Public Transit and TransLink has been all over the Twittersphere lately because of some great news! According to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Southern California and published in the Journal of American Planning Association, our very own Customer Information Twitter team has been ranked #1!

The Twitter team behind @TransLink has only 140 characters to help, direct and inform thousands of riders every single day. They respond in real-time to customers’ questions and complaints from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

After analyzing over 60,000 tweets to and from major North American transit authorities, the study found the Twitter community were “nicest” to TransLink, with a majority of tweets posted using positive language. The team calculated a “mean sentiment score” for each authority, looking at the amount of positive and negative comments made about local transit.

The research also showed that personal touch is what’s most important when dealing with online complaints. If a transit authority randomly pushes out impersonal tweets, they receive mostly negative comments in return.

TransLink’s Twitter persona is very personal, highlighted by the use of initials (e.g. ^ck and ^jd for Customer Information Work Leaders Candace Kennedy and Jason Davidson), good cheer and sometimes a little sympathy.

This is no easy task! Most of the tweets are about ways in which our customers’ commutes will be negatively affected — track maintenance, detours, elevator outages, and other unavoidable issues.

So, huzzah for the Twitter team and their amazing efforts! Huzzah, I say!

Check out some more information in Wired Magazine and The Georgia Straight. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, @TransLink and say hi to the fabulous CI team!

Author: Adrienne Coling