Twilio, a software company that aims to empower companies and developers to build powerful communications, has launched its first ever TwilioCon in Europe, after previous successful TwilioCons in San Francisco.
The aim of the event is to make Twilio announcements and to celebrate the company and its clients. TwilioCon is there to inspire people to rethink their communications systems in their businesses and listen to some success stories on how best to use Twilio to make it work for you.
Twilio has launched localised SMS numbers for several European countries, including the UK, Norway, Poland, Belgium, Finland and Sweden. It also introduced their new short codes, smaller phone numbers to UK users. The application programming interface has been designed to make it simpler for users to build telephony into apps.
The SMS short codes allow users to build apps that both send and receive SMS messages, making it simpler to construct telephony apps. Short codes are a way of making it easier for users to send SMS messages to online services, without needing to use a full number.
The short codes let users reach their customers faster, as they enable their apps to send messages at a rate of 1,800 messages per minute. You can send and receive picture messages, send messages at a rate of 30 messages per second, reserve your brand with a specially requested short code and have one national number that is not an area code.
There were a number of special guests at TwilioCon, people who are using Twilio to build, create and even change lives. These included Robert Stringer, who wrote the Twilio Cookbook, a handy guide to inspire developers to build with Twilio, Nicholas Pottier and Eric Newcomer who created TextIt, which allows anyone to build SMS apps easily, that has helped farmers in Rwanda share vital information about water management, and Zac Witte and Rose Broome who used Twilio SMS to create HandUp, a new way to donate money to the homeless in a safe and secure way using SMS.
It has been reported that last year, apps built using Twilio had reached over 145 million people around the world. This year, that number has shot up to 350 million people. It is expected that apps made using Twilio have reached nearly 25% of UK adults.
CEO of Twilio, Jeff Lawson, gave a speech at TwilioCon, highlighting the growth of the company and how people are utilising Twilio to make their businesses work. He praised the ‘doers’, the ones who "pick up their tools and solve problems."
Lawson describes Twilio as the "home of software people and the home of doers." It allows people to be proactive, hands-on and experimental when using Twilio.
Lawson’s key phrase, which he repeated several times in both his presentation and interview was: "We can’t wait to see what you build." TwilioCon was a place reserved for optimism about new companies, new ventures and innovation.
Speaking to Lawson, he was confident about the future of Twilio and sees more growth and expansion. "Two years ago we launched TwilioCon for the first time. This is the third TwilioCon, the first two were in Sand Francisco with around 2,000 deveopers. This is the first TwilioCon in the EU and we’ve had over 500 registrations. Our goal is to connect with customers who are building Twilio, to connect with them, to learn what’s possible and to improve communications."
As well as TwilioCon, Twilio have launched Twilio.org, a non-profit organisation that aims to use communications technologies to make a real difference in the world. The website’s slogan is ‘A billion messages for good.’ One of the most inspiring projects that has come from the organisation is BeFree, a Twilio-powered short code for human trafficking captives. For women that are trapped in human trafficking, finding an escape route can often be a matter of life and death. Seeking help using a phone can be a way out, but ringing a helpline could be tracked. Short numbers however are simple to remember and can be used to send a text, which can then be deleted. Sending a text to BeFree automatically connects to The Polaris Project’s National Human Trafficking Resource Center. So when under control of a trafficker, they are able to send a quick, erasable text, that could ultimately spell freedom and much needed help. "Even a single text message can be life changing" adds Lawson.
Lawson stresses the company’s need to "use the power of communication to reach goals and do good" and points out that "building for good is so inspirational."
Twilio shows no signs of slowing down. With another successful TwilioCon under its belt and the inspirational Twilio.org putting the power of communication to a good cause, there seems to be no stopping them, and Lawson sincerely agrees.
"Our goal is to help companies to communicate with their customers, our customers are an amazing source of inspiration for us. We want to recreate the telecom infrastructure; there are no geo-political boundaries in the world of software. The world is now truly global. We are just getting started."
