Translated English version of “How to connect a Cuban cell phone to Twitter”

by Yoani Sánchez




                                “Tweeting blindly.... blogging in the dark”



1. The very first step is to connect to the Internet, then proceed to create an Twitter account on http://www.twitter.co

1. Store pertinent Twitter account user information such as name & password  in a safe place.

1. Add Twitter account user name and the following access telephone number +447624800379 as a new phone contact to the address book of the cell phone.

1. Send 4 messages to this number, each message must include a command as listed below. It is essential that they be sent in the following order, keeping in mind not to leave any spaces before or after any words. Furthermore, there should be no accents nor tildes ( the swung dash in ñ) in the messages. This is of vital importance for success of the operation because each message will cost 1 Convertible Cuban Peso or CUC ($1.20 US) and if an error was made during the procedure, it must be restarted all over again.

start
username
password
ok

1. For the sake of clarity, the username makes reference to the Twitter handle, for example, Luis Felipe Rojas's Twitter handle or username is alambradas and that of the blogger Claudia Cadelo is claudiacadelo. The same must be done for the sms for the password that has previously been configured on the http://www.twitter.com site.

1. The 4 messages have to be sent consecutively, one after the other at two minute intervals, without delay. Before beginning the transaction, be sure to have at least 5 CUC worth of credit on the cell phone before undertaking the operation.

1. After having sent the four consecutive sms with the commands, compose a message         in the form of a greeting to Twitter users, and ask a friend to verify whether the messages that were sent via sms have appeared on Twitter.

1. As of this moment, it is possible to send messages (sms) of no more than 140 characters to +447624800379. Be aware, that with this method, it is not possible to see what others tweet, nor is it possible to respond to a DM (Direct Message on Twitter), much less know the subject matter of discussion on Twitter – but it can, at least serve as a means of transmission of information. Ask friends to send you via sms messages with news and URLs of interest in order to stay informed on current events and for retweeting.

1. Each sms sent to the number above will cost 1 CUC ($1.20 US), so prepare your wallet.

1. By recharging a Cuban tweep's (friendly Twitter user) cell phone with credit, you can contribute to having his/her voice being heard.












Translated by: Diani Barreto