Unpopular Railway Hires 15-year old Eddie Smith as Twitter Guru

A teenager saved a company that’s older than him with nothing but Twitter and a good sense of humor.

Southern Rail, a UK based railway company isn’t very popular these days. Industrial disputes, late-running trains, and other factors have gained the company a reputation as ‘the worst train line in Britain.’

As a consequence, the parent company of Southern Rail, Govia Thameslink Railway was fined £13.4m last month by the UK government for poor performance.

However, all was temporarily forgotten when 15-year-old student Eddie Smith joined the company as an intern. When Eddie joined Southern Rail for his work experience, he never expected to end up a social media star.

After a few days of managing the company’s Twitter account and responding to train related questions, Eddie was given permission to post what would make him a Twitter sensation.

Eddie’s tweet went viral almost immediately. Within a few hours, the tweet garnered thousands of likes and received lots of questions.

As a result, Eddie became a Twitter sensation with #AskEddie trending across Twitter.

#AskEddie

It wasn’t the questions but the witty answers Eddie provided that won the hearts of disgruntled commuters.

Even though most questions were completely non-train related, Eddie answered as many as he could with each answer having the Eddie’s touch which made it a pleasure to read.

A cross country rail line from London to Joburg in the works. Who would have thought?

Apparently, a horse-sized duck would be scary to Eddie.

Eddie’s choice of shoes.

Too young to operate a train. 

Who would want chopsticks hands anyway?

What’s Eddie up to now?

Presently, Eddie is focused on his GSCEs.

In case you were wondering, Southern Rail has already given Eddie an offer to return when he wants to.

For now, we wait anxiously to see Eddie’s return.

Over the last century labor has changed drastically. With social media technology, even the youngest of us can contribute to PR-related jobs, rather than just bagging groceries or pushing carts.

Would you let a teen manage your business’s social media account?