Southern to stop using Facebook

[bicbasher]

Southern have announced that they'll only be using Twitter to communicate with customers on social media.

Twitter is taking over!

We’ve noticed that most of our Southern customers have been contacting us on Twitter nowadays so we’re going to be closing down this Facebook page for now to reflect that.

Come and join us @SouthernRailUK for all the latest travel updates, promotions, deals and more. Our Twitter feed is managed round the clock and is the best place to get instant responses on all your queries! Do come and say hi!

Don’t worry if you’re not on twitter, we still have dedicated avenues for you to access the latest travel information including:

The Customer Helpline - 08451272920
Hear about all the latest offers - www.southernrailway.com/offers/offers

Thank you

As I don't use Twitter, I'll be penalised by having to use a 0845 rate number to contact the company, nor am I interested in having a Twitter account considering the security issues it has.

Even if customers don't use Facebook for travel enquiries, as a PR tool, it's great for knowing about offers.

 

[scotsman]

Security issues?

 

[bicbasher]

Security issues?

There are various privacy issues with Twitter, such as people still being able to see your tweets when you block them, or over zealous when if for example you make your account private and tweet Southern a travel enquiry, they may not be able to see it.

It's also an open platform for those who wish to abuse people in a public forum as seen with the abusive messages sent to those who campaigned for Jane Austen to be on a £10 note.

 

[1e10]

Security issues?

There has been recent press coverage because of leaked account details. Some say that access to accounts can be too easily gained via bruteforce attacks.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/02/twitter_breach_leaks_user_data/

 

[telstarbox]

You don't have to have an account to view tweets though, only to follow or interact with an account (and then you can get an anonymous account, unlike Facebook where you're supposed to use your real name).

 

[pinguini]

More companies and individuals should follow suit!! Good for Southern!!

 

[Bungle73]

I think you're making big fuss about nothing. If all you need Twitter for is to interact with a rail company, why are you so concerned about people seeing your tweets and things like that?

But at the end of the day why can you not just email them.......?

 

[yorkie]

Farcebook is more well-known for having poor security than Twitter, but...

It's also an open platform for those who wish to abuse people in a public forum ....

... is very true. Also for spreading lies and hate (and other Twitter users often seem to believe them!)

But Farcebook also has issues with abuse, though the way it manifests itself is different to Twitter. Several TOCs pages are blighted with unbelievable responses and rants by disgruntled customers. Some make valid points, but aggressively. Some are ridiculous points, but only the minority seem to be genuine concerns raised in a proper, sensible manner.

Unfortunately the cretins of society have switched to social media sites such as Farcebook and Twitter in large numbers, spoiling the experience for genuine users.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

But at the end of the day why can you not just email them.......?

Agreed. Email is the best way.

I've helped a few people with complaints to Southern, and all were resolved to the customers satisfaction. None of them went through social media.

 

[Bungle73]

More companies and individuals should follow suit!! Good for Southern!!

Um what? Twitter isn't really meant for conversations, it's just for posting short comments. FB is much more suited to that plus it has other advantages like being able to post pictures and such.

 

[bicbasher]

I think you're making big fuss about nothing. If all you need Twitter for is to interact with a rail company, why are you so concerned about people seeing your tweets and things like that?

It's about choice. Facebook offers better security functions over Twitter, it's still a very popular social media network. Taking away one form of communication with customers isn't good PR.

I'm more likely to look at my Facebook feed than visit the Southern website unless I'm buying tickets.

NRE have a Facebook like page for every TOC with travel information, but they don't promote special offers.

 

[1e10]

Um what? Twitter isn't really meant for conversations, it's just for posting short comments. FB is much more suited to that plus it has other advantages like being able to post pictures and such.

Not entirely true.

Messages can be responded to and then viewed in a list (conversation view if you like) after.

I find social media to be a fantastic way of contacting companies and receiving a timely response. I contacted CrossCountry by email and received a response a month later.

I have the same problem when trying to contact First Bus. As soon as I send them a public tweet asking why I haven't received a response, such a thing usually appears in my inbox very shortly.

 

[Bungle73]

Not entirely true.

Messages can be responded to and then viewed in a list (conversation view if you like) after.

I find social media to be a fantastic way of contacting companies and receiving a timely response. I contacted CrossCountry by email and received a response a month later.

I have the same problem when trying to contact First Bus. As soon as I send them a public tweet asking why I haven't received a response, such a thing usually appears in my inbox very shortly.

But you're limited to 140 characters. That's not exactly conducive to a proper conversation.

 

[cjp]

I think you're making big fuss about nothing. If all you need Twitter for is to interact with a rail company, why are you so concerned about people seeing your tweets and things like that?

But at the end of the day why can you not just email them.......?

How quickly do Southern reply to emails?
EMT's goal is within ten days
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1521995&postcount=1

 

[Muzer]

Southern have announced that they'll only be using Twitter to communicate with customers on social media.



As I don't use Twitter, I'll be penalised by having to use a 0845 rate number to contact the company, nor am I interested in having a Twitter account considering the security issues it has.

Even if customers don't use Facebook for travel enquiries, as a PR tool, it's great for knowing about offers.

> Uses facebook
> Complains about privacy and security issues on Twitter


Whatever happened to email?

 

[transmanche]

Whatever happened to email?

In general you get a faster response from a company via Twitter or Facebook than you do by email. For example; via Twitter you might get a reply within two minutes - via email it might take two weeks.

 

[Muzer]

I'd expect as much from any company nowadays. They don't care if people can't publicly view the complaints, is the only possible explanation I can think of.

 

[SamanthaJ1989]

That's Interesting. I'd have thought with more space to post they'd have been able to write in more complex detail then twitter would allow?

 

[yorkie]

But you're limited to 140 characters. That's not exactly conducive to a proper conversation.

Indeed, but it's still used for conversations.

A member of this forum tried to ask Scotrail if they honour itineraries given by booking sites for travel, but it proved almost impossible to communicate to them in 140 characters*. Scotrail kept mis-understanding what he was saying, and in the end just referred him to customer services. Using Twitter was a complete and total utter waste of time in that case. (Oh, and for the record, if anyone is curious, answer was that Scotrail don't want to honour tickets being used in accordance with the itinerary provided by their booking confirmation, which is of course against ATOC's own guidance on the matter)

* I'd be tempted to 'cheat', by writing a properly and putting "..." at the end of the first tweet, and "..." at the start of the next, so they can see it's the same sentence continuing from one to the next. Anyone remember when you used to have to do that with text messages?

 

[causton]

How much detail do you need? Most people aren't posting complaints that are that complex via Twitter!

e.g.
"@SouthernRailUK Lights not working in rear carriage 77230 of 1036 Victoria-Brighton, please fix it!" ...and still 41 characters to spare!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

A member of this forum tried to ask Scotrail if they honour itineraries given by booking sites for travel, but it proved almost impossible to communicate to them in 140 characters*. Scotrail kept mis-understanding what he was saying, and in the end just referred him to customer services. Using Twitter was a complete and total utter waste of time in that case.

And I would agree that's a complaint/query much better handled by email. Twitter has its uses, but usually only one person will staff the Twitter desk and they will not know the Routing Guide or the company's obligations to honour certain itineraries etc!

 

[bicbasher]

> Uses facebook
> Complains about privacy and security issues on Twitter

> Snid comment you'd expect to see on Twitter.

Facebook is easier to make ones profile private. For example, people can't find my profile or attempt to add me as a friend. Twitter as a more public forum will publish everything you say, people can search your comments etc, you're more likely to have your account compromised etc.

I've never had my Facebook account hacked or been bullied as I can control who sees my content.

Email is too slow, I've waited three weeks to an enquiry I emailed to London Overground regarding ticketing.

 

[Muzer]

> Snid comment you'd expect to see on Twitter.

Facebook is easier to make ones profile private. For example, people can't find my profile or attempt to add me as a friend. Twitter as a more public forum will publish everything you say, people can search your comments etc, you're more likely to have your account compromised etc.

I've never had my Facebook account hacked or been bullied as I can control who sees my content.

Email is too slow, I've waited three weeks to an enquiry I emailed to London Overground regarding ticketing.

You don't have to use your real name on Twitter. You aren't encouraged to share any of your personal details, and you aren't required to give Mark Zuckerberg rights to use all of your photos for advertising if he feels the whim.

Twitter is designed for more public/less important/personal posts. If you do want to make personal posts, that's what email (or if you're so inclined, Facebook) is for - and why are you including personal information in a message to a TOC?

 

[Bishopstone]

I'm more concerned that Southern don't subscribe to the very useful Journeycheck service; that they fail to tweet many cancellations and most short formations; that their Twitter feed gives incorrect advice (1) and that their website contains no useful train running information.

(1) Today's example was a guy told he couldn't use First Class seating on the Tattenham Corner branch unless the train (presumably a 377) was declassified by the Guard.

 

[yorkie]

It's rare for TOCs to have knowledgeable people manning their Twitter feeds. Most of them seem to give out inaccurate info! There's a few good ones, but it you're not going to do it well, it's better not to do it at all in my opinion.

 

[Drsatan]

Indeed, but it's still used for conversations.

A member of this forum tried to ask Scotrail if they honour itineraries given by booking sites for travel, but it proved almost impossible to communicate to them in 140 characters*. Scotrail kept mis-understanding what he was saying, and in the end just referred him to customer services. Using Twitter was a complete and total utter waste of time in that case.
* I'd be tempted to 'cheat', by writing a properly and putting "..." at the end of the first tweet, and "..." at the start of the next, so they can see it's the same sentence continuing from one to the next. Anyone remember when you used to have to do that with text messages?

Another way around that would be to use twitlonger which looks a bit tidier than using multiple tweets for the same message. However, I haven't tried using twitlonger on mobile yet, so can't verify whether that works or not.

 

[bicbasher]

I'm more concerned that Southern don't subscribe to the very useful Journeycheck service; that they fail to tweet many cancellations and most short formations; that their Twitter feed gives incorrect advice (1) and that their website contains no useful train running information.

(1) Today's example was a guy told he couldn't use First Class seating on the Tattenham Corner branch unless the train (presumably a 377) was declassified by the Guard.

All of Southern's CIS's at Metro stations on the platform should inform the passenger if First Class is declassified. This is also the case at LOROL stations which share with Southern on the East London line.

 

[starrymarkb]

Another thing is Facebook is starting to limit what you can do with a Company page without paying. Twitter Messages will at least get through without having to pay £10-15 per post.

Would you pay £10 per post to ensure more then a few percent of the companies followers can see it.

 

[87015]

It's rare for TOCs to have knowledgeable people manning their Twitter feeds. Most of them seem to give out inaccurate info! There's a few good ones, but it you're not going to do it well, it's better not to do it at all in my opinion.

But how do you get people who are knowledgable about the broad range of questions? You have to empower those replying to use the knowledge they have for it to be worthwhile, even if the odd mistake creeps in. Otherwise it degenerates into bland non-replies which might as well go all the way through customer relations, defeating the point of tweeting in the first place.

The restrictions mean it will never be the ideal way to sort some things, especially those complicated or long term issues, but I believe it is a positive system for TOCs and Passengers in the majority of cases - my view has totally changed in the last six months or so having started to keep an eye on a few.

 

[yorkie]

I agree that they may often have to refer people to use 'traditional' methods, but that is vastly preferable to giving out inaccurate information.

For example if they are not trained in ticketing, why not admit that (and perhaps advertise that fact?) as unfortunately some of them tell people their tickets are not valid, when in fact they are.

 

[MrPosh]

> Snid comment you'd expect to see on Twitter.

Facebook is easier to make ones profile private. For example, people can't find my profile or attempt to add me as a friend. Twitter as a more public forum will publish everything you say, people can search your comments etc, you're more likely to have your account compromised etc.

I've never had my Facebook account hacked or been bullied as I can control who sees my content.

Email is too slow, I've waited three weeks to an enquiry I emailed to London Overground regarding ticketing.

None of that is actually true (from the second paragraph, obviously).

Anyway, Twitter doesn't have any problems - just idiots using it from time to time, but from my experience it attracts a better class of idiot than Facebook.

 

[Qwerty133]

None of that is actually true (from the second paragraph, obviously).

Anyway, Twitter doesn't have any problems - just idiots using it from time to time, but from my experience it attracts a better class of idiot than Facebook.

Twitter does have small problems, but not anything that would bother the vast majority of users (eg: searches missing tweets).
as for the idiots I find them easy enough to avoid and if they do start at you, if you don't reply to them they get bored.