Twitter is wonderful. What is it?

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

We used Twitter extensively during the San Diego fires to keep in touch (we’re based in San Diego), and I use it to communicate with my brother half-way around the world. It’s pretty simple – you submit your update to Twitter who then publishes it to the world, your friends, or a particular person.

A big part of the appeal is the number of interfaces it supports – like Xpenser, Twitter is accessible via SMS, IM, Web, and a number of other interfaces.

We’ve integrated Twitter with Xpenser, so now you can submit your expenses from any interface Twitter supports. This means, for example, that our international customers can now send us their expenses via SMS by using the Twitter access numbers.

If you already have a Twitter account, all you have to do is register your Twitter account with Xpenser and submit your expenses by sending them as direct messages to the user xpn. For example, “d xpn lunch 45.13 with Jack and Jill”, where “d xpn” means send a direct message to xpn.

If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can create one via the Web or directly from your phone using SMS. From your phone:

Start by texting the word help to 40404 if you’re in the United States. From Canada, use our new Canadian short code, 21212. For international Twitters, use the new UK long code: +44 7624 801423. Australia can use the new UK long code, and Italy is a special case; write us and we’ll give you more information. India has its own short code: 5566511.

Once you’ve created your account register it with Xpenser and you’re ready to go. Submit your expenses by sending SMS messages to Twitter (find the access number for your country above) in the form of:

d xpn parking 35.13 airport

Which means: send a direct message to the user xpn with my expense of 35.13 for parking at the airport.

Check out the Twitter FAQ for more information, and happy Xpensing with Twitter. As always, let us know if you have any questions, comments, etc.