As you may know we’ve run into a Twitter limit on how many accounts we can allow into Xpenser. Asking nicely worked, and you helped spread the word and get about 500 new users following Xpenser. Thank you!

However, we’re still shy of the 2000 user mark, so we figured we would try good old fashioned bribery: we’re giving away an iPod Shuffle to one of the Twitter users that is following us when we hit the 2500 user mark.

To be eligible, you must follow the xpn user using your Twitter account. If you already follow xpn you are already eligible.

Since we’re not sure what the legal issues around doing contests outside the US are, you must be a US resident in order to be eligible, and we can only ship to US addresses. If someone points us at clear instructions that show expanding this outside the US is easy (we know there are a lot of attorneys using Xpenser, now is the time to speak!), we may expand it to other countries.

Please read the rules and legal notices, and spread the word, let your friends know they should follow xpn.

Well folks, it seems we’re popular on the internets. It turns out we’ve hit the 2000 follower limit on Twitter and can’t add any more accounts, as you’ve probably noticed if you tried to register a new twitter account with Xpenser in the last day or so.

We’re working with the Twitter folks to fix this. In the meanwhile, our sincere apologies. We’ll get your Twitter fix back on as soon as we can.

Thanks to the lovely folks at Twitter we now have a local SMS short code for India: 5566511 . Details on how to use Xpenser via Twitter can be found at the Using Xpenser with Twitter page.

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.