End of the line for Train companies on Twitter?

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Certainly not from a marketing point of view but from using it as a news feed to report on service status particularly at times of disruption.

This comes with the news that Twitter is to replicate Facebook in making your Twitter feed an algorithmic timeline from as early as next week. The article reports it may be optional but I can't see it being made available as a choice of how you have your Twitter feed.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/twitter-to-introduce-algorithmic-timeline-as-soon-as-next-we#.no7jKlMpy

This change of direction IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) completely destroys the whole beauty of Twitter as a simple feed to get what you want and from whom you want when it's posted.  Poor move.

[Timmer]

Well Twitter users are certainly letting Twitter know their feelings with #RIPTwitter hashtag massively trending this morning with 76.7k tweets as at 9.06am. Could the demands of their users prompt them into a rethink?

[grahame]

One of the factors in the algorithm could be the price the tweeter is willing to pay - either for an individual tweet, for the account as a whole, or for "up to xxx tweets per month".  And that could ensure (if they wanted it) that train operators for better / longer visibility of tweets than they do at present rather than the reverse.  Whether they want to / would pay in this new environment is interesting, but I suspect that the current system is very cost effective in getting the message out, notwithstanding the huge salaries    paid to the specialist with both social media skills and railway knowledge.

[Timmer]

Indeed that is the question, are individuals/companies willing to pay for their tweets to be seen in people's Twitter feeds? That's the gamble that it appears Twitter is going to take. I don't think it's making much money in its current state.

[Timmer]

#RIPTwitter tweets now upto 304K. I think Twitter users are letting Twitter know exactly how they feel and that's before America has even woken up!

[Chris from Nailsea]

... notwithstanding the huge salaries   paid to the specialist with both social media skills and railway knowledge.

My understanding is that the salary currently paid to Ollie, for example, is simply eye-watering! 

[ChrisB]

(ly)....low.

[TonyK]

I have found twitter to be of occasional use when things are not going to plan on the railway. I'm sure I could achieve the same via Facebook or an email. As an alternative is available, why bother with twitter?

[Surrey 455]

I have found twitter to be of occasional use when things are not going to plan on the railway. I'm sure I could achieve the same via Facebook or an email. As an alternative is available, why bother with twitter?

Twitter is sometimes useful when there are problems. About 2 years ago when we had a lot of heavy rain, wind, fallen trees and no trains in Surrey, SWT^▸ (South West Trains) and Southerns twitter feed was useful because their own websites had crashed due to heavy demand. Most of the time though SWT post too many tweets that either don't affect me, are irrelevant or are repeated several times a day. For that reason I mute SWT until something goes wrong and I need to replan my journey.

Email is not a real time thing for me. I only use it on my phone if I want to send one or am expecting one. Otherwise it's something I only use at home.

Facebook is a thing I have heard of that people tell me I must join. I can't be bothered though with telling friends what I am doing, have been doing or will be doing every 5 minutes.

[Timmer]

Most of the time though SWT^▸ (South West Trains) post too many tweets that either don't affect me, are irrelevant or are repeated several times a day. For that reason I mute SWT until something goes wrong and I need to replan my journey.

I find that with Virgin Trains (both companies) so switch them off from time to time, especially when they are doing promotions. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have it just right, and that's with me following both their Twitter feeds. Agreed that SWT do over tweet at times so only switch it on when I'm travelling with them.

As for Facebook, I use it purely as an informational gathering piece rather than telling everyone what I've just had for my dinner. I confess I did post some snow pics when we had snow three years ago so I'm guilty as charged on that one 

[TonyK]

I joined Facebook so that I could see what my children were up to. They now use it to keep tabs on me.

Twitter came in handy a year back, when Realtime Trains showed that my mum's XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train from Bristol to Birmingham, en route to Blackpool, was in trouble in Cornwall. A couple of tweets revealed that one of the conjoined 5-car sets had failed, meaning Mater's reserved seat was somewhere between Newquay and Plymouth. At Temple Meads, where eight carriage loads of 2nd class pax were trying to get into four carriages, it turned out that I knew more about what was going on than any of the staff, and so got mother upgraded to 1st class FOC^▸ (Freight Operating Company).

I also used it on Monday just gone, when all was far from well, courtesy of Imogen. Tweets to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) from TVP revealed that all restrictions on tickets were off - thanks Grant. I did get the same information from Bignosemac via the coffee shop!

[Surrey 455]

I did wonder why GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) used the twitter handle GWRhelp until I saw a tweet today from the soon to be defunct / rejuvenated BBC3^*. It included the handle @GWR which I now know belongs to Guinness World Records.


^*Delete as applicable. BBC3 goes online only from Tuesday.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I joined Facebook so that I could see what my children were up to. They now use it to keep tabs on me.

Their education will probably have broadened considerably as a result.