What is Twilio?

Twilio is known as a cloud communications platform as a service company (CPaaS) since they provide developers with the ability to programmatically make and receive calls as well as send and receive text messages. Using their API, developers can automate and schedule text messages to remind users of upcoming appointments, run sweepstakes, and create chat bots. However, use cases are not limited to these options. A quick look at Twilio’s Solutions page reveals how developers can use Twilio for two-step authentication, SMS surveys, and anonymous communications.

Why Twilio and Django?

Imagine a client needs to send a mass text campaign to all of their customers. The client wants to be able to upload a file of their customer’s phone numbers in an admin panel and then send a new offer with a promo code via a mass text. Fortunately, Django and Twilio can easily integrate to form this solution. Twilio’s docs goes over their Python helper library here. For our project we will consult this page and create a Customer model to store a name and phone number. Then we will extend Django’s admin to send out text messages by creating messages with the official helper library. Keep in mind, this integration is relatively straightforward but can be further customized to create chat bots and call routing systems.

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