GWR Twitter reduced service

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

"Due to staff illness, our social media customer support service is closed from 19:00 until 06:00 throughout February. We are working hard to return to full hours as soon as possible."

.........surely it wouldn't be too difficult to train someone else to step up?

Non/restricted availability of this service for this reason has been increasing of late, it would appear to be inadequately resourced/covered.

[IndustryInsider]

I can't answer your question, but I think there is an increasing argument that X is no longer a platform that large businesses should be using.

[ChrisB]

They have a Bluesky account but are yet to use it.

[IndustryInsider]

They have a Bluesky account but are yet to use it.

I'm hearing good things about Bluesky.  No guarantee it won't go exactly the same way as Twitter did mind you.

[grahame]

On the social media platform that used to be called Twitter ... I have ceased using it, and that includes doing so from various campaign / volunteer business places, and that's on principle even if it's at the cost of loosing contacts.   So what instead?

I set up BlueSky accounts back last November and have posted a couple of times, spasmodically, there.  It's grown much more in the USA / political arena and it's one of the social media platforms that Lisa is very strong on - a dual USA/UK^▸ (United Kingdom) citizen with a deep interest in what's going on, and I would be unwise to use the word "Trump" or "Musk" in the same sentence as her name.

Facebook remains a very strong social media platform though it's not so question / answer short term as the two mentioned already and is perhaps getting to be a bit over-mature and fade a bit?

LinkedIn is excellent for industry / business / working type contacts - wouldn't be the place that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would / should look to answer customer questions

Also aware of Instagram (where, yet, it make sense to post pictures to raise the profile and doing some stuff on Nextdoor.  I wonder if GWR might answer via WhatsApp.

But for GWR, and the staff shortage, there's an implied question in one of the earlier posts - "how hard could it be for someone to stand in".  Surprisingly difficult - the person standing in needs to know their stuff and how the internal comms work, they need to have an intimate understanding of things like fare structures, they need to be excellent communicators, and they need to have the ability to sell rules which at times are hard to justify (look at my rerouting thing this morning) and they need to be able to stay calm and polite even under extreme provocation.   And remember - if they don't know an answer, they can't ask GWR on Twitter!

[LiskeardRich]

I had reason to contact a customer services a week or two back, it was via WhatsApp. I was very impressed how the service worked and resolved my issue

[TaplowGreen]

On the social media platform that used to be called Twitter ... I have ceased using it, and that includes doing so from various campaign / volunteer business places, and that's on principle even if it's at the cost of loosing contacts.   So what instead?

I set up BlueSky accounts back last November and have posted a couple of times, spasmodically, there.  It's grown much more in the USA / political arena and it's one of the social media platforms that Lisa is very strong on - a dual USA/UK^▸ (United Kingdom) citizen with a deep interest in what's going on, and I would be unwise to use the word "Trump" or "Musk" in the same sentence as her name.

Facebook remains a very strong social media platform though it's not so question / answer short term as the two mentioned already and is perhaps getting to be a bit over-mature and fade a bit?

LinkedIn is excellent for industry / business / working type contacts - wouldn't be the place that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would / should look to answer customer questions

Also aware of Instagram (where, yet, it make sense to post pictures to raise the profile and doing some stuff on Nextdoor.  I wonder if GWR might answer via WhatsApp.

But for GWR, and the staff shortage, there's an implied question in one of the earlier posts - "how hard could it be for someone to stand in".  Surprisingly difficult - the person standing in needs to know their stuff and how the internal comms work, they need to have an intimate understanding of things like fare structures, they need to be excellent communicators, and they need to have the ability to sell rules which at times are hard to justify (look at my rerouting thing this morning) and they need to be able to stay calm and polite even under extreme provocation.   And remember - if they don't know an answer, they can't ask GWR on Twitter!

If support for Musk/Trump is the chosen hill to die on, you'd better think twice before using Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp....

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/technology/mark-zuckerberg-meta-trump.html

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8j9e1x9z2xo

[Chris from Nailsea]

It started going downhill when Ollie moved on elsewhere within GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) ... 

[grahame]

If support for Musk/Trump is the chosen hill to die on, you'd better think twice before using Facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp....

Indeed - I have thunk.

Should Zuckerberg end up going round DOG-E style like Musk, I may thunk again.

[TonyK]

I abandoned Twitter a couple of months ago. It was getting too disgusting even for me. I'm on Bluesky, which is a bit quiet at the moment.

[TaplowGreen]

I abandoned Twitter a couple of months ago. It was getting too disgusting even for me. I'm on Bluesky, which is a bit quiet at the moment.

I must admit I am heading the same way - X seems to be largely dominated by the more extreme section of Scottish Nationalists, the Farage/Corbyn appreciation societies and those who tread a very fine line in their distinction between support for the people of Gaza and the terrorists of Hamas.

Haven't tried Bluesky but this seems a good opportunity to step back from some forms of social media. I don't think it's particularly good for anyone's health these days.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Indeed: I'm looking into even closing down my last 'online social media profile', LinkedIn, now I have retired.

You can still contact me here via the Coffee Shop forum, though! 

CfN.