Keith Urban surprises fans by giving them his number
Country music star Keith Urban has won the hearts of fans by asking them to send him a text.
He put up a snap on Instagram of a Polaroid with a US phone number, explaining that fans should “shoot me a text”.
The reply, according to Now To Love, is instant but automated and unfortunately, fans outside the US can’t access the latest service.
"Hi! Glad you're here. I can't text internationally just yet but fill out your contact info so we can text you as soon as it's available,” the automated text said.
The link leads fans to a site called Community, that describes itself as "a new conversation platform enabling direct and instant communication at massive scale, all through text messaging."
Other stars, such as the band OneRepublic, have jumped on board, with lead singer of the band Ryan Tedder explaining to Billboard why they use the platform.
"We captured over 20% of our audience at Red Rocks and immediately had so much more engagement than we've ever had with Instagram and Twitter," Ryan explained.
"Nobody else should have your fan's information other than you -- the fact that Facebook owns all of it and we can't have access to it unless we want to pay exorbitant fees is ridiculous."
There’s no word as to when the service will be in Australia or New Zealand as of yet, but fans of Urban should keep their eyes peeled.