Twitter Partners With MTN to Establish an SMS Shortcode in Cameroon

Originally published on Scribbles from the Den

Thanks to a partnership between the microblogging platform, Twitter, and MTN Cameroon, MTN subscribers in Cameroon can now send tweets from any mobile phone. To get started, they simply  text "START" to 8711.  Using this shortcode means not having to pay international SMS charges when using Twitter from Cameroon - standard messaging rates apply, but receiving tweets is free.

For details watch the following interview with Jessica Verrilli, Director of Strategic Initiatives & Corporate Development at Twitter. Interview conducted by Edouard Tamba during the Africa Media Leaders Forum in Yaoundé.

Note: Short codes (also known as short numbers) are special telephone numbers, significantly shorter than full telephone numbers, that can be used to address SMS and MMS messages from mobile phones or fixed phones (Wikipedia)

 

 

 

Comments

[Merenge Man]

This means the over 4 million MTN subscribers can use Twitter during the 2011 elections to track electoral violence, fraud, etc. in real time. This should be very easy in a country where there are more text messages than actual phone calls...

[legal eagle]

What is the reason by this rampant phenomenon of young women walking nude in the streets (see links below). General consensus that this is a rite of passage into the numerous sects that now exist in Cameroon...

http://lecamerounaisinfo.com/Douala-Elle-marche-nue

http://camerlive.net/index.php?view=detail&id=1824&option=com_joomgallery&Itemid=4#joomimg

[Bobby]

More likely, she has a mental illness, is high on drugs and police are not doing their job.

[Oyez]

Yes, it is the job of police in normal countries to protect such people from themselves and from the public. The pictures are very sharp. People are carrying high powered equipment everywhere. I hope they use tweeter for political change.

[ouadine]

A couple of years ago, this would have been attributed to madness but in the last year and particularly in the last few months, the proliferation of nude women in douala has become a trend. Remember the lady who a few months ago stepped out of here Rav4 SUV took off her clothes and stepped into the fontain in Akwa and walked out before being arrested?
[see video here - http://www.kiraworld.com/societe/les-divers/1472-cameroun-femme-nue-douala.html ]it turns out that this was an explicit instruction from a sect that was supposed to make her rich...