Mumbai, Delhi, March 22nd, 2010: SMS GupShup, Indias largest social messaging platform is all set to create one of the largest online platforms for celebrities to connect with their fans and to promote social causes. Under celebrity engagement programme, Television actor & Lead actor of serial UTTRAN on Colors, Nandish Sandhu has recently launched his community on SMS GupShup. The young heartthrob was the face of the 3 day Anti-Drug Campaign started by SMS GupShup in Delhi from 18th-20th March 10.
Nandishs Anti-Drug campaign kicked off on 18th March with SMS GupShup vehicles making rounds of the city for 2 days with pits spot places like Connaught Place, Khan Market, G.K I & II, PVR Saket & Vasant Vihar etc.
The road show concluded on 20th March 10 with Nandishs visit to Drug Rehab Center in Rohini, meeting and interacting with the rehabilitants, appreciating their courage to take the step to recovery. He made an appearance at the JIIMS College in Vasant Kunj wherein he enacted a small play on Ill effects of Drugs along with other actors in the afternoon. The actor personally appealed to the college students to not be a victim of Drug abuse. This was followed by a slogan contest I support the cause on SMS Gupshup because.......... and winner of the slogan contest received branded gifts signed by Nandish at the DLF Mall, Vasant Kunj. His fans were quiet excited to meet him at the mall.
Fan clubs on SMS GupShup are picking up momentum as celebrities from all walks of life find a novel way of connecting and engaging with their fans on the go. Actors, singers, fashion designers, stylists keep in touch with thousands of fans through mobile communities, micro-blogging about their life and interests via sms. It is simple, quick and a direct channel to their fans.
Speaking on the occasion, Television actor Nandish said, Social Networking sites are a rage these days and the best way to be in touch with your friends and loved ones. I preferred SMS GupShup as its on mobile and I can use it anywhere while I am out on my shoots. Drug abuse is one of the key social evil which Indian youth are combating today. The main concern is that whilst the fear factor is preventing people from talking about Drug abuse and seeking help from outside. By seeking advice early, they can stop the problem from escalating, and prevent the stress that goes hand in hand with serious drugs habit taking over their lives.

I am pleased to be associated with such a good cause in my real life. SMS GupShup has provided me the platform to reach out to the youngsters to convey the message and would like to thank the Delhi youth for joining this 3 day meaningful journey.

SMS GupShup Founder & CEO, Mr. Beerud Sheth said, SMS GupShups platform enables social media on mobile, thereby providing a convenient channel for public personalities to interact and engage with their fans. While fans are excited by direct conversations with their favorite stars, celebs control what gets published. We are glad to see how users are mobilizing opinion on civic causes via SMS GupShup.
The company is growing at a rapid pace and now accounts for 5% of all text messages sent in India. Earlier this year, the company inked a deal with Facebook to enable Indian Facebook users to go mobile. The mobile subscriber base in 2013 is set to exceed 771 million in India, according to Gartner Inc, and 5.8 billion globally, according to Portio Research.
Using the celebrity engagement programme, SMS GupShup ran a national contest in the past called Dream Date with Sanjana for its subscribers with southern sizzling beauty Sanjana.

How does SMS GupShup work?

SMS GupShup is really simple to use. Users can create or join communities by sending SMS messages to the GupShup short code:

1. To create a community, SMS to 567678: CREATE (where

2.To invite friends to the community, SMS to 567678: INVITE 981xx 982xx (where 981xx and 982xx etc are the phone numbers of the friends)

3. To join a community, SMS to 567678: JOIN

4.To send a message to the community, the creator of the group can simply send the message by SMS to 567678. SMS GupShup will broadcast the group message to all the members of the group.

 5. Users can also use the web or WAP (mobile web) to create or join communities.

You can also create the group on long code using the no. - 092195 92195

Notes to Editor

About SMS GupShup

SMS GupShup is the worlds largest social SMS service that allows users to communicate and connect with family, friends and fans using mobile handsets. SMS GupShup extends the capabilities of p2p sms technology to social messaging including 1-to-many, many-to-many and many-to-1 communication, thereby enabling social interactions on sms, the only medium that reaches 4 billion users worldwide. Launched in April 2007, it is used by 26 million users in over 2 million communities.