GWR's Twitter 'service'

[whole diary]

[Surrey 455]

Stagecoach south west has no Facebook coverage, and has now got a suspended Twitter. I’m told they have comprehensive service updates on their website. However the service updates page isn’t on their mobile browser site!

Seems to be working now.

[Ollie]

Personally (and its probably because I've reached a certain age) I really resent having to sign up to a third party to get more accurate and recent information. I don't want to hand over all my data to Twitter but it does seem the that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) prioritises it over the website.

Personally I think there should be some sort of public information legislation/guidelines for certain types of companies (Travel, Power, Water etc) that means you don't have to hand over personal data to get information.

GWR could provide a Twitter feed on or via the from page of their website - or indeed via any other page on their site.  It wouldn't be interactive - read only and the same for all visitors to the page - but it would avoid the need for customers (and other interested parties) to be able to read the public feed without signing up. 

I fear I have been doing too much redesign of the GWR website over the last 12 hours and they have limited window space ... all too easy to add so much you drown out many elements.

Due to my past with the Twitter account I'll refrain from commenting on its current service [as] I've tried to avoid looking at Twitter these days.

In regard to feed on the website though, I think this is closest to what you're thinking of https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/check-your-journey

Edited to add the [as] so it reads a bit better..

[JayMac]

Due to my past with the Twitter account I'll refrain from commenting on its current service

That's a telling comment nonetheless.

In the words of Alison Krauss (or Ronan Keating if you prefer),  "You say it best, when you say nothing at all."  

[Sixty3Closure]

Are RSS^▸ (Regional Spatial Strategy) feeds still a thing?

I only follow about a dozen Twitter accounts and most of them are transport related but I still struggle to find the useful information even in that limited number. Possibly because I'm a very reluctant user and my two followers appear to be cats I've never really learned how to use it but it doesn't seem a great platform for pushing information. Asking questions yes, but actually finding out what's happening less so.

I don't know where the social media team sit but I suspect its quite hard to 'hook' them into the operational process so they probably don't have the information they need.

Did I read somewhere Ollie has a new role as a driver? Is it for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?

[Ollie]

Due to my past with the Twitter account I'll refrain from commenting on its current service

That's a telling comment nonetheless.

In the words of Alison Krauss (or Ronan Keating if you prefer),  "You say it best, when you say nothing at all."  

No, it's more that I've not really looked at it much so couldn't give an opinion as to whether the service it gives has changed since I left it back in December 2016.

Did I read somewhere Ollie has a new role as a driver? Is it for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?

Yes and yes, done a lot of training and I qualified last Tuesday.

[Pb_devon]

Well done Ollie!

[Western Pathfinder]

Soon to be Ollie on the OHLE^▸ (Over-Head Line Equipment (electrification via catenary)) then ?

[the void]

I don't know where the social media team sit but I suspect its quite hard to 'hook' them into the operational process so they probably don't have the information they need.

Most of the Twitter stuff is done in house by the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) team, based in Milford House, so pretty well located to get the information they need! The overflow stuff is handled by Capita, so not so on their part.

[Timmer]

Most of the Twitter stuff is done in house by the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) team, based in Milford House, so pretty well located to get the information they need! The overflow stuff is handled by Capita, so not so on their part.

That’s what I thought as most of the time the responses you get are well informed that would imply they are employees of GWR. I guess Capita handle out of hours responses.

[ChrisB]

I only follow about a dozen Twitter accounts and most of them are transport related but I still struggle to find the useful information even in that limited number. Possibly because I'm a very reluctant user and my two followers appear to be cats I've never really learned how to use it but it doesn't seem a great platform for pushing information. Asking questions yes, but actually finding out what's happening less so.

If you look at their specific account, rather than your twitter feed, their is an option to filter 'tweets' from 'tweets & replies' - so you get just their tweets, rather than any replies to others. Those should contain info they are tweeting out, rather than chat & answers to others. You can easily toggle between the two.