Comments on: TrimeTwitter

By: Lise Harwin

Lise Harwin — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:47:42 +0000

I meant to post this yesterday, so I hope someone still offers their two cents. If TriMet’s doing things “wrong,” what local orgs/businesses are doing them right?

Most communicators know that best practices and learning from others is key. There are a handful that I think are using Twitter effectively — TravelPortland is one — but I’d love to keep an eye on more of your favorites.

And Jason, for what it’s worth, my org has seen huge budget cuts over the years, but we still make time for social media, as that’s where the conversations are occuring. Using a tool like Twhirl makes it really easy to do other work while still hearing the “pings” when you get an @reply or DM. Free resource, super easy, still get other work done…just saying.

By: Jason McHuff

Jason McHuff — Thu, 14 May 2009 04:58:25 +0000

Well, in case you haven’t noticed it, TriMet is facing a severe budget crunch and, as the webmaster herself said to me today, doesn’t really have the resources to do things like that.

By: Kathleen McDade

Kathleen McDade — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:32:56 +0000

Maybe the TriMet person doesn’t know to check their “mentions” tab?

By: Mars

Mars — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:55:42 +0000

I’m glad the Twitter police have shown up and are here to enforce “the one true way” to use the protocol…

By: Daniel Day Douchebag

Daniel Day Douchebag — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:50:40 +0000

Maybe trimet is too busy you know, driving busses and running out of money to respond to your “twits”. Would knowing why the line is late help it get there any faster?

I drink your 140 character limit. I drink it up!

By: Betsy Richter

Betsy Richter — Wed, 13 May 2009 17:30:00 +0000

The real issue for me is – if you’re not willing to engage, then why be there? Twitter isn’t a one-way broadcast medium; anyone trying to use Twitter in that fashion will soon get unfollowed/ignored unless what they’ve got is truly interesting/worth following.

And if no one’s following you – what’s the point?

(See that Oprah, I’m talking to you! But of course, you’re not listening…)

By: dieselboi

dieselboi — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:49:12 +0000

@Brewcaster. You bring up a good point, but let me counter point. When email was ramping up as a means of communication in the 90’s, many companies had to modify their internal processes in order to deal with this new technology. It didn’t go from 0-80% overnight, it took years. I doubt the number of tweets to Comcast or other companies will go from what it is now to 80% overnight, but companies need to sit back and realize this is a viable means of communication and plan for it accordingly.

By: brewcaster

brewcaster — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:22:52 +0000

True, but now imagine if 80% of Comcast subscribers were @tweeting to Comcast and expecting responses, would that still work?

By: dieselboi

dieselboi — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:18:16 +0000

@Brewcaster – I disagree with your statement. TriMet is small compared to some of the companies who have embraced new technologies like Twitter. Comcast is on twitter and daily we hear stories of people getting answers to their customer service issues from Comcast via Twitter. My point is not necessarily to TriMet directly, but more to companies that engage with these types of technologies. If you are actively updating your feed with news and service alerts, it is implied that when asked about a delay, there would be feedback. I know you hate Twitter, so maybe I’m talking at a brick wall. Twitter is here, it is a viable source of information. Will it be the thing 2, 3 or 5 years from now? Maybe not, but for now, if a company tries to tweet, they need to understand their customer’s expectations. I don’t see that at this time.

By: brewcaster

brewcaster — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:11:53 +0000

Twitter can not be an effective medium for 2-way communication. You are going to have to look at Twitter as a huge chatroom with thousands of people all talking at once. There is no possible way a company will be able to respond to every @ they receive, nor should they.

It may be a sad thing for some of the Twitter lovers to face, but it just doesn’t scale well to the size it has grown.