FOI request detail

Twitter Profiles Closure Documents

Request ID: FOI-1037-2021
Date published: 07 October 2020

You asked

Hello, I am requesting documents related to the closure of TfL's Twitter accounts, including all London Underground lines, the Overground, and TfL Rail. This could, but is not limited to, reports, surveys, market research, etc. that was included in the decision making, as well as any documents or reports related to the justification and decision making regarding the closure of these Twitter accounts. Thank you.

We answered

Our Ref: FOI-1037-2021

Thank you for your request received on 9 September 2020 asking for information about the closure of TfL Twitter accounts.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.

I can confirm we do hold the information you require. However, to locate and collate all of the requested information would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

There are several accounts across the various social media platforms. We do not hold the information you have requested centrally so we would have to go to each of the teams behind these accounts in order to identify, locate, and retrieve this information.

Whilst we are unable to provide you with all of the requested information, we can provide you with some background information which I hope you will find useful:

In December 2018, we asked the 36,500 followers of the @tflaccess feed to take part in a survey about how they use the feed. Despite tweeting about the survey three times throughout December, we received feedback from one customer. Therefore there was not enough data for us to prepare a report.

We then consulted with key internal and external stakeholders on changes to our social media profiles including issuing a survey to a number of accessibility groups including RNIB, Transport for All and Scope. This survey concluded in December 2019 and we received 12 responses.

The survey asked a range of questions, for example:

  • When you are about to start a journey on a TfL service, do you check the service status before you travel?
  • How do you replan a journey?
  • Do you use Twitter to check service status?

Given the low number of respondents, we did not produce a summary but did take into account the feedback when reviewing our use of Twitter.

TfL's digital team also presented the decision at TfL's Accessibility Stakeholder Forum in January 2020 and incorporated their feedback as well.

Following the public announcement that we were looking to close the account, we have temporarily paused the decision to close this account while further engagement takes place with TfL's Independent Disability Advice Group (IDAG) and Transport for All.

Please find attached a copy of the Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) that was prepared.

I hope you will find this of interest, but should you wish to resubmit a request for information within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to particular Twitter accounts.

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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