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HintCafe adds features built on Twilio
Hi,
I recently started a dating website hintcafe.com and built some interesting features like leaving a voice message for a user and calling another user without knowing their number.
For some details, see http://hintcafe.com/faq. For these things in action, see my example profile at http://hintcafe.com/user/vivek
I built the following on HintCafe using Twilio
a) Phone validation - users can add their phone number to the account. The phone number is validated using something similar to Twilio add-a-caller-id process. User is given a 4 digit validation code on hintcafe.com and user enters that code when hintcafe.com makes an outgoing call to the phone using Twilio make call api. The validation code is captured using Gather.
b) Leave a voice message - The user calls hintcafe.com and then user is asked to record the message for the chosen user. This is done using Record verb. The message receiver is sent a flash player linked to mp3 of their recording on hintcafe.com inbox. The recording mp3 is fetched using recordingurl provided by Twilio.
c) Call Forward - Users of hintcafe.com can talk to each other without sharing their phone number. The caller calls Hintcafe.com incoming number hosted on Twilio. HintCafe uses a dial to call the other user using callerID of HintCafe to make the dial. This way, both users can talk to each other without sharing their phone numbers.
My last week developing the solution with Twilio has been a very positive experience. The Twilio team on help@twilio.com and here on forums is very prompt and concise in reply. The overall product is well designed with the REST APIs and is simple to user. And ofcourse, the pricing model is just fantastic which makes it capable for early stage startups like mine to build interesting features without considerable upfront cost.
- Vivek
I recently started a dating website hintcafe.com and built some interesting features like leaving a voice message for a user and calling another user without knowing their number.
For some details, see http://hintcafe.com/faq. For these things in action, see my example profile at http://hintcafe.com/user/vivek
I built the following on HintCafe using Twilio
a) Phone validation - users can add their phone number to the account. The phone number is validated using something similar to Twilio add-a-caller-id process. User is given a 4 digit validation code on hintcafe.com and user enters that code when hintcafe.com makes an outgoing call to the phone using Twilio make call api. The validation code is captured using Gather.
b) Leave a voice message - The user calls hintcafe.com and then user is asked to record the message for the chosen user. This is done using Record verb. The message receiver is sent a flash player linked to mp3 of their recording on hintcafe.com inbox. The recording mp3 is fetched using recordingurl provided by Twilio.
c) Call Forward - Users of hintcafe.com can talk to each other without sharing their phone number. The caller calls Hintcafe.com incoming number hosted on Twilio. HintCafe uses a dial to call the other user using callerID of HintCafe to make the dial. This way, both users can talk to each other without sharing their phone numbers.
My last week developing the solution with Twilio has been a very positive experience. The Twilio team on help@twilio.com and here on forums is very prompt and concise in reply. The overall product is well designed with the REST APIs and is simple to user. And ofcourse, the pricing model is just fantastic which makes it capable for early stage startups like mine to build interesting features without considerable upfront cost.
- Vivek
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Inappropriate?Nice work Vivek, great use of Twilio for privacy on a dating site.
I'm sure you have it figured out, but I worry that two people would hit it off through your call forwarding and leave you with the bill for their long, heartfelt conversation. You are using timeLimit on the Dial verb, right?
I’m cheerful
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Inappropriate?Hi Barnabas,
Thanks. I pass on the cost of the call (with margin for myself) to the caller. The person receiving the call is not charged for anything.
Even otherwise, since this is an introduction call, I would expect the call to be short and over within 10 minutes. By then, either the users would have decided to share phone numbers or not pursue further. I might make up to 5 min of calling free in future to make the service popular.
It actually took me a week to develop because I added paypal to the website to pass on the cost to the caller. I do use timeLimit on Dial (for call forwarding) and maxLength on Record (for leaving voicemail). The value depends on minutes left in the caller account.
- Vivek
