If you're someone who uses the Truecaller services in India, you will now be able to key in a number on the app and find out if the number is connected to a Twitter account. It also lets you further tweet at or follow the person directly through the Truecaller app.
“With this new integration, a Truecaller user can instantly tweet back to a missed call that has a Twitter account connected to the phone number. This is especially valuable for users in India who are looking for a fast, free and reliable way to communicate,” says Alan Mamedi, CEO & co-founder at Swedish-company Truecaller.
Truecaller’s Twitter integration is currently available for Android users, with plans to expand to iOS in 2014.
What is truecaller?
Truecaller is a mobile directory crowdsourced by a community of people using the app. You can find out the name/pet name of a person by downloading the app. You can use the app to type in a number and find details from the crowdsourced database about the person's
- Name
- Network
- The network circle (area) they are in... example: Thane, Bangalore
In exchange, the app takes numbers and contacts from your phone to update its global, crowdsourced mobile user database.
How Truecaller describes itself:
Truecaller is the world’s largest verified mobile phone community, dedicated to helping users make the right call. Truecaller’s dynamic community of more than 40 million users is always evolving and is committed to maintaining the integrity of the community by crowdsourcing information to help identify spam callers and verify users. Headquartered in Stockholm, Truecaller was founded in 2009 by Nami Zarringhalam and Alan Mamedi. Truecaller is available on all internet-enabled devices and on the web.
Author's take:
For users who are anonymous on Twitter, this might just be an annoying feature that leaks out their details to anyone using the app. Also there are people who may not want their Twitter handles to be linked with their numbers in the first place.
How is the information sharing being done between Twitter and Truecaller?
1. Twitter asks users to share their cellphone numbers to activate Twitter text messaging and protect their Twitter accounts. But there is no disclaimer that says: Your number will be used to allow users to look your Twitter handle up.
2. Twitter asks for cellphone numbers during two-step verification. Again, this should have a disclaimer that says your number is being shared with Truecaller.
3. Both Twitter and Truecaller share email IDs of users to connect handles to their accounts. Again, users need to be intimated about this.
*We are trying to get in touch with Truecaller to understand how this will actually work. In the end we just hope that there is user consent before sharing details and individual privacy is respected.
Online reactions to the tie-up
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