Jazzing up multimedia

What Twitter did for the SMS (short message service), Zannel is hoping to do with the MMS (Multimedia Messenger Service).

Last year, the world saw the rise of microblogging thanks to Twitter, which allows users to post a 140-character message directly to a website. The service was used by bloggers to keep the world updated on the earthquake in Sichuan and the Mumbai bombings.

Now Zannel.com is offering a service that allows users the ability to upload pictures and videos - as well as text - they've taken with their mobile phones. Zannel's doesn't just allow users to post to its site, either.

The site is designed to forward your text and multimedia to any number of other sites, including Twitter. Since I have a third-party app that automatically updates Facebook with my Twitter status, I was able to kill two birds with one stone. The site can also update your Flickr account.

Even if you use something other than Facebook or Flickr, Zannel allows you make widgets that can be used to import all of your text and multimedia to a number of social networking sites.

If you already have a blog going, you can set up Zannel to receive RSS feeds that will keep Zannel updated with all your recent posts.

There is even an option to have your posts "geo-tagged" with Yahoo's Fire Eagle application. I was a little frustrated by my inability to set up my phone to receive updates from Zannel, but there is nothing on the site saying updates are unavailable in the Middle East.

The site is free to use, but keep in mind that you may be billed for sending MMS, especially those with large images or videos.