Twitter has introduced a new feature to the one-to-many text messaging service - the ability to email "Tweets" directly from the message.

"You can re-tweet any (Twitter messages) to your Twitter followers, but sometimes you want to share with another group, like your college roommates or your parents or a friend who isn't yet on Twitter," engineer Stefan Filip said in a blog post.

"That's why we're introducing the ability to email a Tweet directly from twitter.com."

The feature will be rolled out to all users of Twitter in the coming weeks.

The new feature made its debut as Twitter rolled out improved applications for using the service on iPhones or smartphones powered by Google-backed Android software. These updates were designed to improve search results and highlight photos, videos and news shared at the service.

Facebook also updated its apps for Android and iPhone, allowing users to use the Share button on News Feed stories from their phone to share stories with their friends, just as they can from their computers.