updates - TheWayoftheWeb

Snow hits UK, but train travel information arrives via Twitter

February 2, 2009 By Dan Thornton 1 Comment

The best way to get reliable UK train travel updates during the current light covering of snow appears to be the excellent uktrains service, which publishes updates to Twitter for 25 rail companies. Especially when the official website for some companies appears to be as reliable as the trains themselves.

'No trains' Pic by aburt on Flickr (CC Licence)

Once again Twitter is showing itself as an excellent mechanism for information, following on from the #uksnow mash-up in my last post.

But although it’s still new enough to get coverage on mainstream media such as the BBC, (@bensmith is talking about UKtrains at the BBC as I type), it’s not without precedent (Not to diminish the great work by Ben Smith (uktrains) and Ben Marsh (uksnow).

Back in October 2007, Twitter users @nateritter and @viss used the hashtag #sandiegofire to distribute information on fires in California.

And then there were the earthquakes. US, UK and China.

There was the tragedy in Mumbai, and the use of Twitter to start alerting people about the status of hospitals and need for blood donations.

And some emergency services have a Twitter account, such as the LA Fire Dept.

The interesting thing about #uksnow and uktrains is how the interpretation and use of data pulled from, and pushed into Twitter is evolving to make more effective services for information.

Plenty of people have talked about how Twitter is moving into the mainstream, or how Facebook made an offer to purchase the microblogging service – but in many ways the mainstream are being sucked into Twitter – exactly as happened with Facebook en route to 150 million+ global active users.

Buffer

Filed Under: twitter Tagged With: #sandiegofire, #uksnow, @benmarsh, @bensmith, alerts, coverage, earthquakes, emergency, map, mash-up, mumbai, news, schedule, snow, trains, twitter, uktrains, updates

A personal tale of Twittering on the train

December 8, 2008 By Dan Thornton Leave a Comment

I was suffering a bit of blog writers block on the train home from London today, and worrying that although there’s plenty Twitter related in my RSS feed, there wasn’t anything I could add to without a fair bit of research.

And then the train stopped.

Handily I was on Twitter, and mentioned it. Seconds later:

Which coincided with the announcement by someone actually on the train.

Then:

Turns out fellow social media person Simon Collister was on the train in front. Sadly his offer of a beer in the buffet car wasn’t enough for me to try and get the driver of my train to catch his!

It also reminded me of other occasions when Twitter has been useful in answering other train-related queries, such as when @davidcushman was wondering why trains were delayed, and I happened to see his tweet and find the answer within a minute or two, so he could make alternative plans.

Sure, the use of Twitter at times of global-reaching events and tragedies gets justified coverage, such as Mumbai, or U.S earthquakes. But it’s also worth noting the difference it can make it personal instances – and if you’re only dealing with Tweeters you know, there’s already an implied reliability.

Buffer

Filed Under: twitter Tagged With: david cushman, news, reliability, sailesh panchal, simon collister, trains, transport, travel, twitter, updates

Twitter's SMS service loses Canada. Now just U.S and India

November 27, 2008 By Dan Thornton Leave a Comment

It seems that Canada has joined the rest of the world in losing the ability to receive Twitter updates via SMS, as revealed on the Twitter Status Blog. As with the rest of the world, the blame is placed squarely at Mobile carriers:

‘We can’t afford to support this service given our current arrangement with our providers (where costs have been doubling for the past several months.)’

The post continues:

‘The ability to update Twitter over SMS will still be supported over 21212. But we know that this is only part of the experience and we want to make Twitter work in the way folks want … regardless of where they live.

There is a realistic, scalable SMS solution for Canada (and the rest of the world.) We’re working on that and will post more details on the Twitter blog as we make progress.’

It seems a little strange this appeared on the Status Blog, and not the Official Company Blog, which is what happened when we lost Twitter updates via SMS in the UK. And at the time, there was the promise of several new local SMS services across Europe – but I don’t think anything has been arranged yet, and to be fair, if you’re not being monetised or bought by Facebook, then the costs do start to add up:

‘Even with a limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US.’

SMS is obviously a hugely profitable enterprise for mobile providers currently. And I doubt much will change on that front for some time – but hypothetically, with the rise of smart phones and access to social networks (and fortunately, Twitter and clients), could this a cause for even the start of a decline in SMS usage? Any mobile phone experts got any idea of the figures, and whether smart phone usage means less SMS?

Buffer

Filed Under: twitter Tagged With: canada, cancelling, cell phones, Clients, ending, india, mobile phones, sms, twitter, u.s., updates

Terrorist attacks in Mumbai – Twitter becomes source for updates

November 26, 2008 By Dan Thornton 12 Comments

As the full horror of the ongoing terrorist attacks in Mumbai (Bombay) unfolds, Twitter has once again become the place to find first hand accounts and updates. So much so, that CNN is citing both Twitter and Flickr as the places to keep up with the latest updates, as updated by @Moto62 and many others.

Meanwhile @BreakingNewz is trying to raise awareness of a blood shortage at JJ Hospital due to the attacks. And @hemanshukumar provides a phone number to donate at St George’s hospital. And @Netra provided a direct contact for the blood bank at JJ Hospital.

Other reports on the role Twitter is playing in relaying first hand reports and reactions to the news include Techcrunch, and GigaOm.

Responses and reactions are flowing incredibly fast on Twitter, and you can follow the stream here. (Flickr results are here). Or you can follow a localised Twitter search updates.

It’s hard to find the right words to express the sympathy I have for everyone there right now, but seeing individuals sharing important information to help each other is a reminder of the good in the world. And also that in the debates about monetising microblogging, perhaps we’ve missed a far more important role and legacy we could be helping to develop further as a response tool to tragic situations.

Buffer