Using GroupTweet in Haiti: An Easy Group SMS Solution 1

Have ever tried using SMS as a group communication tool in Haiti or any of the other 85 countries in this list?  If your answer is yes, you will want to continue reading because by implementing Twitter and GroupTweet to power your SMS communication, you can save a significant amount of money.

In the majority of the world (including Haiti), its free to receive Tweets via text message or “SMS.” To send a Tweet via SMS in Haiti it only costs 1 HTG. If you want to send a traditional group sms however, you would be charged 1 HTG for every recipient you want to send it to.  If you have a large group of people that you wish to communicate with this can get expensive quickly. Even “bulk sms” providers will charge you anywhere from $0.01 to $0.03 USD for each SMS sent.

At those rates, if you are sending out an SMS broadcast to 1,000 people in Haiti that would cost you $10-$30 for a single broadcast!  By using Twitter, you can deliver SMS messages to an unlimited number of cell phones in Haiti (and 85 other countries) completely for free.

Additionally, with traditional SMS broadcasts, you need to gather and import every recipients phone number. With Twitter/GroupTweet your SMS recipients simply need to opt-in once by sending a single SMS and then you are all set.  They do not need to sign up for Twitter or have existing Twitter accounts themselves. Additionally they can opt-out of all future SMS messages from you by sending a single SMS.

If you simply want to enable a broadcast only mechanism, then all you need is Twitter. However, if you want to add group functionality where some people can reply all to the rest of the group then you will want to try out GroupTweet.  With GroupTweet, you have full control of your group. You can configure your settings so that certain group members can only receive SMS whereas other group members have reply all access.

The great thing about leveraging Twitter/GroupTweet for your group communication needs is how flexible the platform is. Some group members can choose to receive the messages via SMS, whereas other group members can receive the messages via mobile Twitter apps or by simply visiting your group’s URL whenever they want to catch up with the group. Best of all, Twitter/GroupTweet works seamlessly with any type of mobile device, computer, or tablet. No need for smartphones or expensive data plans as mobile data signals or wifi is not necessary to use Twitter/GroupTweet via SMS. This makes it a great solution in rural areas with poor data coverage.

Lets outline some of the practical solutions GroupTweet can provide organizations in Haiti:

  1. I want to send a single text message that is instantly delivered via SMS to 100 of my team members phones.
  2. I want recipients of this message to be able to respond directly to me or even “reply-all” to the rest of the group if appropriate. (You can designate exactly who has reply-all access).
  3. I want to segment my team members into different groups so they only receive relevant messages.
  4. I want team members in Haiti to be able to send text messages that are instantly delivered to computers, phones, and tablets anywhere in the world.
  5. I want team members in Washington DC to be able to send a message from their computer or phone that is delivered via text message to every team members phone in Haiti.
  6. I want some groups to be private and others to be public.
  7. I want all my group’s text messages to be automatically archived and available online from anywhere in the world.

You may be thinking that this sounds complicated and like a lot of work to setup. However, GroupTweet requires absolutely no software to be installed and can be up and running within minutes.

Still have questions? Just email us at Support@GroupTweet.com and we’ll be happy to help!

Want to get started? You can follow the step by step directions for users in Haiti by clicking HERE.  If you are experienced with Twitter and/or GroupTweet, just hop on over to GroupTweet.com and get started!

Hi, I'm , Co-Founder of GroupTweet.com. GroupTweet allows you to add multiple contributors to a single Twitter account - creating a seamless group Twitter experience. Want to learn more? Click here for some examples or reach out via Twitter, you can find me @craft_ryan