Sandeep Hegde

SMStweet – Tweet using SMS in India

// January 6th, 2010 // Cool Sites, Web // Written by Sandeep Hegde

As you all know I’m a twitter freak, streaming my life live on twitter all the time! One of the craziest thing I do while reading others tweets is to check which twitter client are they using to post the tweets! With a huge number of twitter applications, I have been always curious to know about new and new apps. SMStweet.in is the latest addition to my favorite list of twitter applications. I have been so exited to post about SMStweet, that I’m splitting up the post into two parts. First one is the post you are reading right now and second will be posted soon, an interview with Mayank Sharma, the brain behind SMStweet.

What is smstweet?

SMStweet is a simple service that allows you to tweet using SMS in India.

No longer depend on your web browser or a twitter client. No need to install any software on your phone or use Internet on your phone. No need to pay premium rates to your network provider.

Just send an sms at normal rates to tweet your thoughts.

Getting Started :

• Registering your mobile to the service

You will need to register at smstweet before you can start tweeting. There are two ways in which you can register —  via SMS or Online(Using yout twitter account with OAuth )

Send an sms ‘REGISTER <twitter username> <twitter password>’to any of the following nos:

09220092200 (Mumbai)

09243000111 (Bangalore)

Or register online — Visit the site SMStweet.in and register using your twitter account

• Sending Tweets

Start tweeting by sending a message,‘TWT <your message>’ to any of the following nos:

09220092200 (Mumbai)

09243000111 (Bangalore)

Upon successful updation, you’ll be responded with the latest @mention of yours.

How much does it cost?

You pay nothing to use the service. However the nos used by smstweet belongs to Mumbai & Bangalore. If your phone nos belongs to these cities it costs the same as a local sms. However if you live outside of these cities — it costs the same as a national sms. Different providers have various schemes and packs which could make sending an sms cheaper or even free. For example Reliance charges 1p/sms.

How long does it take to post the tweet?

The time it takes to post your tweet depends on two factors. Mainly the time it takes for your sms to arrive at the nos of smstweet and then how fast our application can post your tweet. The second factor is an important one because Twitter does have it’s fail whale moments.

Behind the scenes

SMSTweets was an idea of Mayank before Airtel came and announced its SMS based Twitter support. This application uses SMSGupShup’s platform to receive and respond to users SMSes and Google App-Engine as the server to run.

Design of the site SMStweet.in was done by Rohit Arondekar who is motivated by simplicity in his designs. Rohit and Mayank happened to meet on Twitter

Stay tuned to this blog to know more about SMStweet with an interview with Mayank. Do not forget to Subscribe to my RSS Feeds and follow me on Twitter.