Twitter’s changes to its operational conditions have caused a customer service nightmare for the airline industry as Air France moves away from the method of direct message.
On April 28, the French carrier made the following announcement on Twitter:
“Since Twitter has changed their conditions, our customer service by direct message on this network is unavailable.”
“Our servicing teams remain available on our other channels”.
“We thank you for your understanding.”
Air France has encouraged people to get in touch via Facebook Messenger & WhatsApp instead of Twitter DMs.
What Are The Changes from Twitter?
The changes are understood to be around Twitter’s API, where companies are now limited in the way that they can communicate with customers.
The wave of changes being made by Twitter owner Elon Musk is highlighting the need that a rethink may need to happen, especially if companies are moving away from the social media network for customer communications.
Reports are also flooding in that a price of $50,000 to public agencies to use the API is causing what is appearing to be an exodus from the platform.
With Musk purchasing Twitter for $43bn, it is definitely the perspective of trying to recoup those costs which have caused controversy amongst users.
What Next?
It remains clear that Air France has made the decision pertinent to changes within the social media platform’s operational scope, with rival Facebook now set to receive the benefits further.
It is unclear whether the owner Elon Musk will back down from the proposed changes to the API or whether he will press ahead in the perspective of recouping that $43bn.
For now, all eyes are on the rest of the airline industry to see how the proposed changes will affect them and whether we could see a certain type of customer service disappear from the Twittersphere.
