How does Twitter do this?

Posted by aitoehigie on Monday June 02, 2008 @06:48AM
from the self-post dept.

I am just curious, how does twitter send "twitts" to users of the service? Do they have an SMS server farm? i.e. computers attached to GPRS modems connected to the web? or do they just buy sms units from whole sellers? if they do so, it must be pretty expensive and do they make any money at all?. If anyone has any info about the inner workings of Twitter, i will love to have it. thanks

( 10 comments | 9 points | on HN )

Re:How does Twitter do this? by brk on Monday June 02, 2008 @08:35AM (#206644)

I don't know exactly about the inner workings of Twitter, but whenever I picture it in my mind I imagine a lot of 2nd-rate servers stacked on a table with covers missing and cables snaking around. The lights on the SMC switch from ebay blink frantically while several admins bang feverishly on random keyboards, uttering multi-lingual curses.

Of course, it could be different, but probably not by much.

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by socksandsandals on Monday June 02, 2008 @08:24AM (#206639)

They most likely use an SMS gateway with an HTTP or SMPP API such as one provided by one of the following:

http://www.clickatell.com/SMS_Gateway http://www.celltrust.com/Products/SMS-Gateway/CellTrust-2Way... http://www.smswarehouse.com/

There are a bunch of SMS providers, some US-only, some international. Search for "SMS gateway" to get more deets.

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by jawngee on Monday June 02, 2008 @10:41AM (#206744)

I've had some not so good experiences with clickatell. Long delays (upwards of hours) on getting messages out, etc.

Would love any info on US based SMS gateways.

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by aitoehigie on Monday June 02, 2008 @08:38AM (#206645)

thanks

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by dazzawazza on Monday June 02, 2008 @09:05AM (#206652)

It's almost certain that they use an SMS gateway. You can bulk buy messages and get significant discounts. Much cheaper then rolling your own.

I've heard that the delivery can be unreliable on some networks though (friend of a friend who delivers softcore porn at a £1 an image and pays < 5p per message. There's one born every minute as they say!).

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by josefresco on Monday June 02, 2008 @11:32AM (#206811)

They check with Arrington first, and then based on his expert recommendations implement the best technology/strategy.

/lame joke

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by mdasen on Monday June 02, 2008 @12:28PM (#206866)

So, I don't know a ton about this, but I know that you can send text messages as emails. Usually it's [email protected]. Like, for T-Mobile USA, I think it's t-zones.com for the domain.

You can ask people what provider they have or just SPAM all the possible suffixes and the wrong ones will simply bounce.

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by nellie1108 on Monday September 22, 2008 @12:41AM (#310833)

I did that is notthing that I can find I one the t-mobile can go at boost hookt chat room

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by nellie1108 on Monday September 22, 2008 @12:38AM (#310831)

My friend tell me to go to tzones for me too look for fun talk I can find it that like a chat room

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Re:How does Twitter do this? by nellie1108 on Monday September 22, 2008 @12:36AM (#310829)

Fun talk

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