How Does Social Media Help or Harm Severe Weather Coverage?
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EAST JACKSON — Social media is changing the way that we get our news, share our lives with our friends, and even with the food we eat. Facebook and Twitter are some of the most-used social media outlets in West Tennessee and make for a reliable and readily-accessible avenue for the VIPIR 7 Storm Team to get the word out about the weather. “Social media is something our viewers can access on multiple platforms from almost any location,” Chief Meteorologist Tom Meiners said. “Whether it’s an update about the next severe weather event or an observation about what today’s high temperature was, people are interested in weather.” A positive aspect of sharing severe weather information on social media is having a fast method of relaying weather info. This is especially useful in a severe weather setting. Social media also allows the weather team to communicate with viewers individually on how the weather may be affecting their specific community, especially when some weather events are more localized than others. Marty Clements, Jackson-Madison County EMA Director says he also uses social media in an emergency situation. “[We will post] when we start getting close to a weather report that we got some type of system coming in,” Clements said. “We’ll go ahead and post it on there on our Facebook, our Twitter and let people know.” Clements also said one of the dangers of receiving weather information solely through social media can be with following fake or amateur accounts that tend to create panic and misinform with their forecasts. Some of these sites may describe the next storm to be “apocalyptic” or for oncoming severe weather outbreaks to be catastrophic when the reality may not be that bad. Always make sure that you’re getting the best and most reliable information by following a verified account from a weather professional whether it be on Facebook or Twitter.
