You'll Never Ride Alone: The Role of Social Media in Supporting the Bus Passenger Experience

TY - JOUR

T1 - You'll Never Ride Alone

T2 - The Role of Social Media in Supporting the Bus Passenger Experience

AU - Gault, Paul

AU - Corsar, David

AU - Edwards, Peter

AU - Nelson, John D

AU - Cottrill, Caitlin

PY - 2014/11/12

Y1 - 2014/11/12

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

KW - transport

KW - social media

KW - ethnography

U2 - 10.1111/1559-8918.01027

DO - 10.1111/1559-8918.01027

M3 - Article

SN - 1559-8918

VL - 2014

SP - 199

EP - 212

JO - Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings

JF - Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Proceedings

IS - 1

ER -