On 12 July, a 15-year old work experience chap, called Eddie, took the reigns of beleaguered Southern Rail's Twitter feed. He nailed it with his #AskEddie campaign, and Twitter loved him. So much so, that Eddie found himself splashed across the pages of our national newspapers.
Was this just one of those social media moments or the summer silly season, or does this tell us something more interesting about corporate social media feeds?
Businesses will spend large sums of money on their social media strategies, and for the most part they are pretty rubbish. They are faceless, dry and spout a corporate line.
If that is desired result, then fine. But let's not pretend they are anything else.
Social media marketers will tell us that they provide a democratic platform for customers and clients to engage with a brand, that it creates conversations between a business and those that buy its products or the services provided. A small number of businesses will achieve that, but for the vast majority that is simply not the case.
When it takes a 15-year old work-experience chap called Eddie to show a multi-million business how it could be done, then perhaps something isn't quite working as hoped. Perhaps, more businesses need to find their 'Eddie'.
Southern Rail have earned some rare social media praise after letting a work experience teenager take over its official Twitter account. The beleaguered train network, which has faced widespread criticism as strikes resulted in severe disruption and rail cancellations earlier this year, put a 15-year-old boy called Eddie in charge of its social media. The teenager quickly became a social media sensation, after his quick witted responses won over Twitter users who began asking him questions using the hastag #AskEddie.
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