Twitter has its focus on the emerging markets just like other social media players. With India being one, the firm that recently went for a big IPO has partnered with Truecaller to bring the service to the nation that it listed as a big challenge during its S-1 filling.
According to TC, Truecaller has struck a partnership with Twitter, whereby users in the country will be able find people on Twitter via their phone numbers, and will then be able to follow and tweet to them, all via the Truecaller app. For now, there will be no ability, however, to comment on other people’s tweets or see full timelines.
Truecaller, the startup from Sweden, which is backed by Open Ocean (the VC fund from ex-MySql and Nokia employees) aggregates existing directory services via deals with white pages companies, and complements that with crowdsourced information from the app’s users. That includes accessing your own address book, although you can opt out from that, and individual users can also opt out from being listed.
The service that is already popular in India, also stated that it is currently adding 1 million users per week, and about 500,000 of those are coming from India. In total, Truecaller has more than 22 million users in the country, which means that Twitter by opening up its API for Truecaller is hoping to create more eyeballs in a country where it is working hard to see a sizable traction.
The integration is coming first on Truecaller’s free Android app initially for the popularity of the operating system in the country, later the service would be extended to its iOS app in 2014.
Talking about the road ahead for the partnership, Truecaller’s CEO and co-founder Alan Mamedi shared with TC that, “Our goal has always been to have Truecaller available on all platforms and we will continue to keep it a multi-platform product. The Truecaller 4.0 for iPhone will be rolled out in the coming weeks and early next year also on Windows Phone and BlackBerry 10.” Besides this the app is also exploring ways to use USSD to reach out to a bigger audience.
However, Mamedi declined to comment on the roll-outs with Twitter to further countries but the plan to do a global roll out is pretty much on the cards.
This is the second big announcement from Twitter where it has partnered with third party companies to bring its experience to a wider audience. Earlier in the week, Twitter tied up with U2opia Mobile to launch its service on mobile phones without data packs. Users will need to dial a simple code to get a feed of the popular trending topics on Twitter. The idea is to bring Twitter service to the masses that have mobile phones but can’t afford data connection on their device. A similar partnership has been on the run between Facebook and U2opia Mobile for some time now.
With the latest tie up Twitter is again trying to bring its services to the masses, considering the massive user base Truecaller has in the country. For Truecaller apart from tying up with Twitter, users are gaining added value. “Twitter being integrated into the app. We know that a majority of our users use Truecaller to identify unknown numbers, and we predict that the Twitter aspect will improve the quality of information Truecaller is able to provide,” added Mamedi.
Prasant Naidu is the Founder and Blogger at Lighthouse Insights. Loves to experiment in social media and believes social media is a game changer for SME’s.
Article published with permission from Lighthouse Insights
