Google+ SMS now available in Kenya and 40 other countries

Remember the Google Safaricom partnership that brought you an SMS feature on your Gmail? Well here is a similar feature only that this is on Google+ and yeah it costs money. I am yet to use this feature coz I have a smartphone but do I say? If you haven’t heard of the Google+ SMS service until now, I wouldn’t blame you. The service isn’t particularly popular and was only available in the US and India until now.

Google has now expanded the list of countries where the service is now functional and it includes the following places: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.

So what exactly do you do with this service? It’s simple. Instead of posting messages on Google+ using the website or their dedicated app, you can post using SMS. The SMS is sent to a particular number and then the message gets posted on your Google+ profile. If people reply to it, you get the replies and notifications on your phone as an SMS. This is great for those who don’t have a smartphone or a smartphone that does not have a Google+ app, yet. It would also spare you some megabytes off the phone bill for mobile data. To get started, activate your phone number on the Google+ settings page (Supported mobile operators)

You will realize that all those countries on the above list are developing countries where people still have limited internet connectivity and very few people use smartphone. In the majority of these mentioned countries SMS is more popular than even Calls because it is almost free. So it is a wise decision to make it available in those countries. How is Google market this to the people, I can see a few scenarios where it can come in handy in a country like Kenya where the adoption rate is very high as long as the marketing is done right and with the right partners.

Well go ahead try it out and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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