On August 11th, The Weather Channel integrated weather forecast and news with the social media realm. Those who frequent The Weather Channel website for news on local weather can now sign into the site via their Twitter account to catch and share tweets from those in their area. Users can also spread tweets across TWC’s mobile, web, and television platforms.
Tweets gathered on the site can range from those provided by local news channel Twitter accounts, to individual residents reporting conditions in their areas. Although non-weather related information can also be aggregated by this system when weather related wording is used, the value in providing up-to-the-minute weather forecast for specific areas may even be lifesaving.
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Twitter Proves to Be a Powerful Tool for News on Natural Events
The East Coast has already been the recipient of Natures unpredictable temperament this week, and it seems they are to face it once again with Hurricane Irene bearing down. Along with Nature’s wrath, the deluge of tweets sent out within the initial moments during the quake proves that at least in 2011, US Twitter users quickly flock to the social media network in times of uncertainty.
Animated Map of Tweets from Eathquake
Weather-related events can certainly inspire tweet frenzies, TWC reports that:
- Significant weather events can generate over 2 million tweets per day
- Active weather events can initiate somewhere between 300 and 500 tweets per minute that are weather related
- On average days, users in the United States send out around 200 weather related tweets each minute
Weather may be the ultimate social content, as it is always guaranteed to trigger conversation.
The Mobile World
In the mobile world, TWC has an iPhone app that features tweets on local forecast pages with feeds of real-time Twitter post from The Weather Social page. Users can participate in Twitter conversation directly from the app.
The Weather Channel TV Programming
During live dedicated programming segments, weather-related tweets will also show up before, during, and after broadcasted weather reports. During significant weather events, TWC Social will supply users with a powerful tool that will provide The Weather Channel with the ability to tell the full story on how weather events are unfolding in their local areas.
WiredSet
Powered by technology from WiredSet, the Weather Channel Social can analyze Twitter conversations using a platform that designates refined algorithms to help recognize social conversations about weather events in real time.
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