MRT breakdown – Social Media Power: Instant tweets, posts play key role

The massive online buzz generated by Thursday night's MRT train breakdown shows the key role that social media platforms play in major incidents, and underlines how important it is for government and corporate organisations to establish a presence on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Michael Netzley, assistant professor of corporate communications at the SMU, commented, “The lack of information from SMRT, standing in contrast to real-time updates from such commuters, would only fan frustration further. If you have complete silence for more than two hours, effectively you are letting the frustrated commuters speak on your behalf. All we saw was the unhappiness and the lack of response.”