The 14-character social media Twitter, has partnered with Indonesian local cellular operator Indosat to launch #TwitBuy in Indonesia. Introduced on Monday, September 7th, 2015, it helps Indosat's 68 million subscribers to buy phone credit and data via Twitter.
Twitter launched the service after the launch of its Twitter Audience Platform, a global market that helps local companies promote themselves globally.
The partnership allows Indosat, one of Indonesia’s largest carriers, to top-up it users' phones through its direct messaging (DM) feature. Twitter has eliminated its 140-character characteristic only in DM earlier, paving for business opportunities like this one.
Twitter's Managing Director for Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East and North Africa, Parminder Singh, said that the new feature would enable advertisers to reach beyond the site's 316 million global users through tapping into MoPub, the largest online advertising database in the world.
Local companies can extend their advertisement reach, potentially increasing the outreach to about 700 million, he said.
Arvinder Gujral, Director of Business Development for Twitter in Asia Pacific, said that Twitter is an integral part of Indonesian society today and #TwitBuy is an innovation that will make their users' lives easier and more convenient, while enjoying the services of Indosat.
"As Indonesia is one of the largest mobile and social media markets in the world, we are thrilled to partner with Indosat to use our social media platform to enhance their subscriber service and increase customer engagement," he said. "Twitter is very pleased to partner with Indosat to use our social media platforms in order to improve customer service and consumer engagement. Indonesia is one of the mobile market and the social media world."
Since opening its official Indonesian office in March 2015, Twitter has carried out a number of projects in the country, one of which was the PetaJakarta service that collaborates with the Jakarta administration. The project utilizes Twitter updates and geolocation feature to map out flood areas in Jakarta.
According to Twitter, Indonesia has around 80 million internet users and around 150 million smartphone subscribers. Almost 80 percent of Twitter users worldwide access the application from their mobile devices. Because of that, Indonesia, as the emerging market that use social network and microblogging platforms extensively, certainly caught the eyes of Twitter.
Twitter's Parminder Singh, told that the country of 250 million is "the next phase of our growth."
Using Hashtag to Power the Social Soundtrack of Indonesia
"We're excited to partner with Twitter… Indosat subscribers spend a lot of time on Twitter, one of the largest social media platforms in Indonesia, and they can now easily purchase our packages with a direct message," said Prashant Gokarn, Indosat’s Chief of Digital. That includes data, voice, and SMS.
The feature that allows Indosat users to top-up their mobile phones comes easy. To take advantage of this, users will have to follow Indosat's Twitter account first, then send a DM using the #TwitBuy hashtag. Further instruction will be sent for authentication.
Initially, the method is only available to Indosat users who have data connection or are connected to Wi-Fi. Otherwise, the traditional methods of topping up, like for example running an USSD code from the dial pad, must be used. This may just make the Twitter's feature just next to useless.
The new head of Twitter's business in Indonesia, Roy Simangungsong, called Twitter the "social soundtrack to daily life in Indonesia." Despite all disadvantages of using the DM method to top-up credits, and whether or not the feature is only used by a small number of very niche user base, it's certainly proven that Indonesia is Twitter's powerful market. And for that, it's a thrill of having such a feature that can ease things, even by a small amount.
