The new fees will add up to $200 to the bills of 2.6 million customers.

From next month all of Vodafone's prepaid clients will be charged for using Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, YouTube and MySpace.

Previously the services were free for six of the most popular prepaid plans, and it's estimated the move will cost some users between $60 and $200 a year.

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Now Vodafone is being inundated with messages from furious customers, plenty of whom are venting their anger on the very social media that's about to make them pay.

A prepaid Vodafone customer for the last ten years Nataljia Ivanovic is one of those who plans to axe the telco when it axes free social media.

"I think it's stupid. I'm a mother with a baby and I don't think I can afford that - there's no way," Ivanovic said.

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"I might go with Optus because my sister's with Optus and she said there's better deals, better caps."

Changes to the Vodafone policy doesn't end with social media sites. All Vodafone prepaid customers will now be charged for a minimum internet connection of a one megabyte block, regardless of how little data they use.

• Source: ACCAN

Vodafone's general manager of corporate affairs Karina Keisler insists that the new changes are necessary to fund a reliable service.

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"We have some of the best plans in the market that we think are enough to cover the growing use of social media," Keisler said.

"We would love to give our data away for free, or make it dirt cheap, but the reality is that the network that enables our customers to access that data in order to build the awesome network that they need - it does come at a cost."

According to Elise Davidson from the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN), these changes simply bring Vodafone in line with other major providers.

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"Vodafone prepaid customers have had it good for a while. Now if they want to use data and social media regularly, they will have to pay for that," Davidson said.

"Vodafone is really bringing it into line with the way Optus charge. And Telstra and other big competitors do only charge per kilobyte, but you'll pay more fore recharge with some of the others."

We were hard-pressed to find any mobile user willing to give the move a ringing endorsement. The new charges for Vodafone's prepaid customers will come into effect on February 13, just in time for Valentine's Day.

More stories from reporter Lynda Kinkade

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This reporter is on Twitter at @LyndaKinkade