Over the last few years, Twitter has seen phenomenal growth in traffic in India after the stars like Gulpanag, Shashi Tharoor, Barkha Dutt and more started twittering prolifically. Airtel now wishes to cash on the same. Airtel has launched a new service called “TweetSMS” for its subscribers to receive twitter updates directly on to their mobile phones.

Earlier when Twitter was launched, it was meant to be updated only via SMS. Only later on did they decide to have an update option on the web platform. Yet till mid of 2008, twitter provided SMS update option, which they had to withdraw for huge amount of traffic they received.

So Twitter is now Teaming up with various operators in different countries for SMS updates. In India, Twitter has teamed up exclusively with Airtel for Free SMS updates for unknown period for time.

To signup for tweetSMS, An Airtel subscriber simply has to SMS Signup to 53000 and then follow the instructions that comes via SMS to complete the registration process and start tweeting. This application allows you to stay in touch with your twitter friends and also update your status without needing any internet connection on your phone. However note that the cost would be Rs 1/SMS sent.

This is definitely a smart move by both Airtel and Twitter, as SMS is widely used by Indians than surfing on their mobile phones. Large part of Airtel subscribers come from youth which might get attracted to this offer. India coming only 2/3rd in twitter usage, Twitter could no longer ignore India for providing more facilities and strong market possibility.

(via)