Using Twitter in India

I’d hoped sending twitter updates from India would be a snap as they’ve got their own shortcode. Not so.

No matter what I did, I couldn’t get the local shortcode to work or verify my number while using AirTel in Delhi. After a whole lot of research, I gave up for the night and twittered my frustration.

The next morning, Abhishek said it worked for him in Delhi, Puneet said the shortcode had changed to 55665, at least in Mumbai/Vodaphone, and Kathryn Yu suggested the international twitter #, +447781488126 and pointed to all the trouble folks were reporting with Twitter in India.

Digging in deeper, I found that Twitter’s shortcode in India only works on some networks, and in some areas. Pretty frustrating that this info is nowhere on Twitter’s site, especially since some of the most popular carriers aren’t covered.

What finally worked

• The international number +44 76248 01423. Apparently twitter changed it without updating their help pages. (I found out on Get Satisfaction.)

Cost

• International txts cost 5 rupees each, which is 12-13 US cents.
• Had the shortcode worked, it would have cost 3 rupees each, or 7.5 US cents
• Normal local txts cost around 1 rupee, or 2.5 cents.

Other options

• I found an Indian startup called Vakow! that’s building an SMS forwards service. They’ve got a Vakow-Twitter gateway that uses a local number to avoid shortcode and int’l fees. I might try this next.
• Chittr is/was an India-local Twitter competitor. There’s posts about it online but the site’s currently redirecting elsewhere.
• SMS GupShup is an Indian group SMS platform. The use case is similar to Twitter’s, except everyone belongs to specific groups instead of following people willy-nilly.