Should TOCs abandon social media sites as a means to communicate with customers regarding disruption/service updates?

[najaB]

How does it cost him money? Apologies if this is OT, but I've long subscribed to the aphorism that 'if it's free, you are the product', so interested in your take on this.

The storage associated with my account, the processing needed to serve my request, the network traffic, etc - while these are miniscule in the absolute, they aren't free. And you're right that I'm the product, but because my interaction with the platform is almost zero, that also means that my value to advertisers is also near-zero. You would struggle to target relevant ads to me based on my Twitter habits.

 

[35B]

The point of an independent platform is that it is accessed by users, regardless of who they have purchased from or which operator they are using. Twitter/X is useful for that purpose, and any move away needs to consider the utility that will be lost as part of the equation.

 

[Tetchytyke]

TOCs should take a leaf out of the Eastern world and use WhatsApp a lot more, in my view.

The Channels function on WhatsApp is pretty much ideal for the TOCs' main issue: getting information out to lots of people all at the same time. Our local police have their own channel and we also have one during the TT for details of the road closures, accidents, etc.

There's still the issue that it is a private proprietary network, but it is more accessible than any of the other social media platforms. And it hasn't- at least yet- gone down the algorithmic route of showing you what it thinks you want to see rather than what most recently happened. Facebook is now useless for pushing information out because it'll show you a post about a delay or an incident two weeks ago instead of one two hours ago. X was heading that way when, even pre-Musk, I deleted my account because it was a toxic cesspool.

I like the way hotels in the Middle East all use WhatsApp though, it is such a convenient way of talking to them.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Jul 2026 ==

Twitter/X is useful for that purpose

It isn't anymore because you can't see anything on X unless you are logged in.

 

[Djgr]

The point of an independent platform is that it is accessed by users, regardless of who they have purchased from or which operator they are using. Twitter/X is useful for that purpose, and any move away needs to consider the utility that will be lost as part of the equation.

Nevertheless there are expectations (moral, reputational and legal) that companies will only deal with reputable suppliers (where this is NOT confined to functionality) and this is the fundamental problem with X.

 

[35B]

Nevertheless there are expectations (moral, reputational and legal) that companies will only deal with reputable suppliers (where this is NOT confined to functionality) and this is the fundamental problem with X.

Understood and agreed.

 

[david1212]

Yes.
Why should I have to be a registered user of a totally unconnected website / platform to get information from a TOC / GBR?

Right now we have a mess with GBR having replaced some TOC's but others still running.
Once all are GBR the information should be from one source and have one point of live contact. Once the route / area is determined from base questions like 'Where are you'?, 'where are you travelling from'?, 'where are you travelling to'?, 'Are you on a train now'? specific information for issues can be given and if further help needed this would be to a team responsible for the area / issue.

 

[najaB]

Why should I have to be a registered user of a totally unconnected website / platform to get information from a TOC / GBR?

You don't have to be. Pretty much every TOC has a website where you can get information. The discussion is about using social media sites in addition to those websites.

 

[johnr57]

Prompted from the Lumo loo incident thread

Are you saying they exclusively used Twitter to communicate this. Why do we keep relying on that disgusting platform to communicate. Just put the message on their own app, email it to everyone who bought a ticket for that train from them, put it on national rail app/website, anywhere but that vile place. It’s time train companies stopped using it as a primary source of information.

I'm not saying they only used Twitter, you just assume that. I only mention it because that is where I (and pretty much the majority of us) saw the message. I'm sure others can confirm or deny whether or not they use other platforms to communicate onboard facilities

Why would they stop using Twitter anyway? It's useful to communicate quite easily there and thousands use it so they're not going to stop using it just because a few people disagree with it. There are other means of communication after all. I appreciate that I'm at risk of taking this off topic so if you want to discuss further it may be worth splitting off into a new thread


This is intended to be that thread!

I ( as in my IT professional role) do not use any of the general social media for communications due to the perceived security and privacy risks. Some TOCs use their app - my preferred route for “emergency” information. Thankfully I can usually work out what is going on through other sources but not everyone has that resource available for a huge number of diverse reasons and similarly many cannot use social media for diverse reasons.

What do you guys think ?
My best experience of customer support is HP and their innovative use of WhatsApp

John

 

[A S Leib]

Even if they're not going to stop putting information on Twitter/X, they should make sure that anything put there is visible on a page which doesn't require having an account / logging in to see it.

 

[Tom]

Even if they're not going to stop putting information on Twitter/X, they should make sure that anything put there is visible on a page which doesn't require having an account / logging in to see it.

Virtually everything that goes on Lumo’s twitter feed in terms of disruption information is reformatted content from Journeycheck - https://www.journeycheck.com/lumo

 

[GoneSouth]

I'm not saying they only used Twitter, you just assume that.

I didn’t, I asked a question.