Story Created:
Apr 12, 2012 at 9:55 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Apr 13, 2012 at 5:17 PM EDT
Social networking is rapidly changing the way people get their information, often being the source where news is first heard.
Social networking is rapidly changing the way people get their information, often being the source where news is first heard.
In this week’s edition of ‘The World Around Us’ NewsCentral’s Tyler Southard tells us how tools like Facebook and Twitter could save your life when skies turn dark.
When severe storms approach, weather radios and local news have been the go to source to receive warnings and important information.
Today, social networking tools like Twitter and Facebook are making it easier and faster for people to know what’s coming so they can get to safety faster.
Warnings aren’t always coming from the National Weather Service either, but from people tweeting and posting in real time.
The National Weather Service in Peachtree City is tapping into these tools to get the word out and see how their forecast is verifying
Hash-tagging a post with #gawx, standing for Georgia Weather, when you see weather happening, can be easily found and read by the National Weather Service, helping them to verify and better their forecasts. Geotagging your location increases this accuracy.
According to the National Weather Service, "We issued a severe thunderstorm warning based on hail and hail size. What we were expecting and later that evening someone posted a picture on our Facebook page showing the ground with what looked like snow but was hail, so that really verified our warning."
The National Weather Service currently has a Facebook page where they post important information and will soon be up on twitter.
The National Weather Service also communicates through a chatroom used by media outlets like NewsCentral, emergency management, and other first responder agencies.
You can follow NewsCentral’s team of meteorologists on Facebook by searching ‘StormTrack Weather’ and on Twitter by following @StormTrackWX. Chief Meteorologist Jeff Cox can be found on Twitter by following @WXManJeffCox.
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