Open AccessYou'll Never Ride Alone: The Role of Social Media in Supporting the Bus Passenger Experience
Author(s) -
GAULT PAUL,
CORSAR DAVID,
EDWARDS PETER,
NELSON JOHN D,
COTTRILL CAITLIN
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ethnographic praxis in industry conference proceedings
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1559-8918
pISSN - 1559-890X
DOI - 10.1111/1559-8918.01027
Subject(s) - conversation , social media , context (archaeology) , business , identity (music) , public relations , advertising , public transport , sociology , computer science , engineering , world wide web , political science , communication , transport engineering , paleontology , physics , acoustics , biology
The paper discusses a study of social media usage within the context of a public transport operator. This involved fieldwork within three subsidiary companies of FirstGroup alongside a content analysis of the individual Twitter feeds they operate and the conversations they generate through them to engage with passengers. A refiguring of the notion of social is taking place within these companies through their emergent strategies for utilizing social media. The findings showed how the companies address this by pursuing a persistent conversation with customers, facilitating the provision of real‐time information and carefully managing their Twitter identity.