A method, computer system, computer program product, and user interface for enabling SMS users to engage in many-to-many conversation, or an SMS conference, utilizing SMS services. Specifically, a user initiates an SMS conference by sending a short message, including the contact numbers for a group of conference participants, to a control center. The control center establishes an SMS conference by storing the contact information as a conference group and assigning a unique identifier to the conference group. Thus, the SMSC establishes an SMS conference by associating the conference group with a unique identifier. The SMSC transmits the short message from the conference initiator to each participant. A participant is able to send a message to all conference participants by addressing the message to the unique identifier. The control center then forwards the message to each participant in the conference as indicated by the unique identifier.