Sunday, 28 November 2010

The Media Phenomenon which is Go North East's Facebook pages

A brief post which is a heads up to a media phenomenon deserving of recognition. Look at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9544&id=100001912940850&saved#!/simplyGNE .As the snow cut in on Thursday, Fiona the wife who was already on Facebook persuaded me I had to join in order to follow the minute by minute account of what was happening out there. Managers, passengers, drivers all seemed to be contributing. At that moment there were some 5,400 liking the page. Just now there are 9,601. That is a phenomenon in four days. It shows to those who are sceptical how a social networking site can be positively used by a regional bus company to engage cost effectively with their customer base. So much better than the clunky hardware heavy route which the Council authorities seem interested in following. By that I mean the real time bus displays. Examples of these have been installed at taxpayers cost in Prudhoe. They only cover one route and that I am not convinced accurately. Other bus routes use the stops and are ignored.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The real time bus displays are not actually real time at present Robert. Like the signage in the MetroCentre, they tell you the time the bus should arrive not the time that the bus WILL arrive. Hexham bus station is a little better now but sometimes that also is not real time but the time the buses should arrive. I believe that there are still technical gremlins in the system.