NOUS41
KWBC 011411
PNSWSH
Public
Information Statement
National
Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
1011 AM
EDT Wed Jun 1 2011
TO: Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather
Information Network
-NOAAPORT
-Other NWS Partners, Users, and
Employees
FROM: Iftikhar Jamil
NWS Chief Information Officer
SUBJECT:
NWS Presence on Twitter
NWS is
exploring use of Twitter to provide microblogging services. Twitter is a
commonly used social networking service that allows participants to share
information with other users. Microblogging services like Twitter serve as an
important source of real-time news updates. The short nature of updates allows users to post news items quickly,
reaching their audience in seconds. Because microblogging services are two-way,
readers of posts can reply to posts with various responses, such as a weather report
with location, time and images/videos. For the NWS, aggregate analysis of this data provides information on
storm evolution, and partner/public perceptions and response.
NWS
has already experimented with collection of storm reports via Twitter (http://www.weather.gov/stormreports/)
and is now beginning to explore the potential for use of Twitter to communicate
weather information. Because exploration of possible use of Twitter cannot be
done outside of the public Twitter environment, our prototyping efforts will be
publicly visible.
Over the
next several weeks, prototype Twitter feeds will be established for the following
sites:
NWS Norman OK
Work
on these Twitter feeds is in preparation for an experimental service that will
be open for public comment and review. The period of prototyping, expected to
last approximately through September 30, 2011, will enable NWS staff to
become proficient at maintaining a useful presence on Twitter and will allow a
period of service adjustments as staff determine the level of automation
needed, type of information to post, and how to effectively address
problems. NWS will provide more
information and initiation of a public comment and review period when a
decision is made to offer this service on a more consistent basis.
Please
note that as a prototype service, these Twitter feeds may be discontinued at
any time, the amount and content of information provided may change, and the frequency of "tweets" may vary and is not guaranteed.
Tweets
will be posted on a time-available basis and may be extremely limited during
periods of severe weather. In addition, users should not rely on this service
as the primary means of receiving NWS alerts and warnings of hazardous
weather. NWS alerts and warnings are
available on NOAA Weather Radio and our official website:
Disclaimers
regarding NWS use of social media services can be found at:
http://www.weather.gov/disclaimer.php
http://www.weather.gov/credits.php#socialmedia
If you
have comments or questions regarding this public information statement, please
contact:
Ronald C. Jones
National Weather Service
1325 East West Highway
Silver Spring Maryland 20910
301-713-3513 x 110
For
technical questions regarding the Twitter prototype, please contact:
Darone Jones
National Weather Service
125 S State Street Room 1235
Salt Lake City, UT 84138-1102
801-524-4000
National
Public Information Statements are online:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
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