How To Update Your Twitter & Facebook Status With Siri [iPhone 4S]

update twitter with iphoneDid you get your fancy new iPhone 4S yet? I sure did. If you or someone you know recently got one, you’ve undoubtedly been playing around with the voice command system, otherwise known as Siri.

Siri can do some pretty incredible things, like find the highest rated Chinese restaurant near you or set your alarm for 6:45am, but do you know what Siri can’t do? She can’t post a status update to Facebook or send a tweet for you. Imagine being able to update your social channels without having to type out your update. Well in this article, I’m going to show you how to trick Siri into updating your Facebook and Twitter statuses for you. Just be sure not to tell Siri about this, okay?

Updating Twitter & Facebook Text Updates

The easiest way to work around Siri’s refusal to update Facebook and Twitter on your behalf is to enable text updates on both of those services. Why? Because Siri can text message numbers from your contact list on your behalf. See where I’m going with this?

You see, both Facebook and Twitter can be linked to your phone, because both services give you the ability to update them via text message. And, luckily for us, enabling this feature on your phone is really simple for both services. Let’s take a look at how this process works.

Twitter

On Twitter, just text the word “Start” to 40404 (if you’re in the US – you can find other countries’ short codes here). You will receive a text back asking for your username and password.

update twitter with iphone

If you’ve linked your Twitter account to your phone previously, you will receive a message letting you know that this is the case.

At any rate, once you complete the process, just add the short code (40404 in this example) as a new contact in your list. Feel free to name it whatever you want, but I’ve just named it “Twitter” in my list.

Facebook

The process for Facebook is nearly identical to Twitter. Just text “Hello” to 32665 (again, this is the US short code – you can find other countries’ short codes here) and you will receive a link to open in your mobile browser.

iphone twitter updates

Facebook seems to take a little while to get back to you once you text the short code, at least in my experience. If you text “Hello” and don’t get a reply within 5 minutes, try visiting Facebook’s mobile page for more assistance. You can also visit your settings to investigate this.

After you complete the process of connecting your phone to your Facebook account, just add the short code to your contact list as “Facebook”.

Involving Siri

Once you have Facebook and Twitter listed in your contacts, you can have Siri text message them just like any of your other friends.

update twitter with iphone

Just activate Siri by long-pressing the Home button on your iPhone and tell her to “Send a text to Twitter” with your tweet, or “Send a text to Facebook” with your status update. Once you confirm your message, your update/tweet will be posted, without you having to type anything.

What’s your favorite thing to do with Siri?


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Steve Campbell

Steve, a Community Manager at VaynerMedia, is passionate about social media and brand building. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Campbell & his Social Branding Blog.

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Hide 5 Comments

  • David B. Bitton November 9, 2011
    0 likes

    I had to name the Twitter contact “Joe Blow”. Every time she heard “twitter” she said she can’t tweet.

    | Like
  • Online Degree Programs November 9, 2011
    0 likes

    Finally the ease of status updating from iPhone 4S is easy to grab. Great Share!

    | Like
  • Guest November 9, 2011
    0 likes

    This also works on Windows Phone 7 with Mango

    | Like
  • Fly Smasher November 12, 2011
    0 likes

    Siri is really your personal assistance to get your things done whatever it is.

    | Like
  • grayson83 December 30, 2011
    0 likes

    siri is really an amazing app of the year. now the problem of updating status again and again is solved .

    | Like