SStorm Reports via Twitter Projecttorm Reports via Twitter Project

By Tim Brice By Tim Brice WFO El PasoWFO El PasoApril 29, 2010April 29, 2010

OverviewOverview

• Twitter 101

• What do the tweeters do?

• What does the NWS do?

• How to promote the project

• New hashtags

What is Twitter?What is Twitter?

According to According to TwitterTwitter, Twitter is:, Twitter is:

““without a doubt the best way to share and discover what is happening right now.”

Perhaps a less biased description of Perhaps a less biased description of Twitter would:Twitter would:

“Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets.” - Wikipedia

What is a Tweet?What is a Tweet?

It is a 140 character (or less) message that a user (tweeter) sends out that is posted on their Twitter home page and also sent to the tweeter’s subscribers called followers?

Tweets can include:• A simple text message• Links to a picture• Links to a web page

Twitter Demo

Media and TwitterMedia and Twitter

• Directly communicate with public• Tweet forecasts• Tweet storm tracks/watch/warning info• Advertise your weather cast• Helps to stay in contact with EM’s/NWS• Tweet weather facts• Answer weather questions• Receive weather reports from the public

Storm Reports via Twitter

NWS and TwitterNWS and Twitter

The National Weather Service wants to tap into this army of weather

enthusiasts (trained and untrained) who use Twitter and give them a quick easy way to transmit their

weather reports.

What do the tweeters do?What do the tweeters do?

http://weather.gov/stormreports (public information page)

What do tweeters do?What do tweeters do?

or

3rd Party App. Twitter Home page

What do tweeters do?What do tweeters do?If geotagging* is enabled:

• Insert the hashtag (keyword) #wxreport

• Enter your weather tweet

It should look like: #wxreport golf ball size hail at my house.

* Be sure geotagging is turn on for both your twitter account and on the 3rd party app.

If geotagging is NOT enabled:

• Insert the hashtag (keyword) #wxreport

• Insert WW <your location> WW

• Enter your weather tweet

It should look like: #wxreport WW Fort Worth, TX WW golf ball size hail at my house.

The advantages of TwitterThe advantages of Twitter

• Large user database• 100 million users around the world.• 25+ million users in the U.S.

• Rich flexible Application Programming Interface (API)

• Easy to search tweets and get results

What the NWS doesWhat the NWS does

http://wwwdev.crh.noaa.gov/epz/twitter/(for internal NWS use only)

What the NWS doesWhat the NWS does

Forecast offices then can access tweets via the webmap interface.

What the NWS doesWhat the NWS does

Forecast offices then can access tweets via the webmap interface.

What the NWS doesWhat the NWS does

Forecast offices then can access tweets via the webmap interface.

What the NWS doesWhat the NWS does

Tweets during the month of April

Good newsGood news

Publicly accessible page

Good newsGood news

http://wx411.com/codenoobs/examples/NWSTwitter/

Advantages/DisadvantagesAdvantages/Disadvantages

Advantages:

• Potential to receive hundreds of weather tweets

• You can monitor the tweets yourself

• Real time feedback for ongoing weather

• Reports and pictures and videos, oh my!

Disadvantages: • Lots of junk and spam tweets and incorrect observations

• Some tweeters are not following the specific format

How to promoteHow to promote

• Web page headline

• Mention during weathercast

• Promote during weather intro or closing.

• Twitter account? Tweet about the program.

Twitter Hashtags for wxTwitter Hashtags for wx1. #wxreport 2. #wxob 3. #STwx (where "ST" is your state two letter id)

For the #wxreport, it would cover significant weather the tweeter actually saw and would include: tornado, hail, snow greater than an inch, dense fog and dust, floods, strong winds etc.

For the #wxob, it would cover weather observed that was not significant and would include: standard weather obs, non-significant weather etc.

For the #STwx, it would cover weather information that would be useful to the public and would include: reported storm tracks, reported storm damages, road closures, watch and warning information etc.

Tim BriceTim Brice

tim.brice@noaa.govtim.brice@noaa.gov

NWS – El Paso TXNWS – El Paso TX

(575)589-4088(575)589-4088

Public facing twitter information page:Public facing twitter information page:http://www.weather.gov/stormreportshttp://www.weather.gov/stormreports

Internal weather forecast office twitter gathering page:Internal weather forecast office twitter gathering page:http://wwwdev.crh.noaa.gov/epz/twitter/http://wwwdev.crh.noaa.gov/epz/twitter/

3rd Party page showing the mapped tweets:http://wx411.com/codenoobs/examples/NWSTwitter/

Questions???Questions???