Hello all,
Glad you think the Twitter feed it helpful. We didn't know exactly what we would use it for to begin with, assuming that it would primarily help to guide people to the right part of our website to answer their questions - e.g. daily shortforms, etc.
However, using a free tool called Tweetdeck, we can search for a variety of different terms - e.g. Euston, LM, London Midland - we quickly realised that Twitter could really come into its own when things are disrupted; with the best will in the world, 10,000 people stranded at Euston in the peak (VT and LM) are not going to all have their questions answered by a handful of people on the concourse, but in the calm of the office or at home I can usually have a stab at the sort of information people are likely to need and send status updates accordingly. Of course during the snow and our recent overtime dispute it also proved invaluable.
At the moment, it is managed almost exclusively by myself, partly because I set it up, but also because I am senior enough within the company to know most of the answers to the questions raised (and have a bit of an obsession about customer service!). However, it can be difficult to manage around the day job and if there is disruption, I will keep the updates going until I think people don't need me any more, which doesn't help one's social life (or relationships!)
Long term, I will continue to oversee Twitter, but the general correspondence will be handled by our customer relations department as they are best placed to answer most of the questions. However, during disruption and out-of-hours we will have additional support to handle enquiries and give regular updates.
Of course, the great thing is that people make live comments that you might not have otherwise discovered - from air con issues to excellent customer service at the station or from the conductor - which I can then pass on to the appropriate people. So if you've got something on your mind, don't be afraid to share it!
David.
