A meteorologist at AccuWeather, Joe Bastardi, has an interesting saying - "The tentacles of weather." He uses this as a descriptor of how weather has strong influence in places you least expect. Part of the reason for it is to point out to the surprising amount of people who think weather is overhyped that yes, sometimes there are reasons why the weatherperson is stressing danger or effects.
The tentacles of weather were all over social media this past week thanks to 7-10 day period of weather that can rightfully be described as historic in one of the most populated places on Earth. As two blizzards pounded the DC-Philly population corridor into submission, social media was abuzz. People reported amazing sights, posted incredible photos, passed on road closure and other information, made jokes about milk and bread runs, and of course, vented frustration. Media personalities like the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore tweeted what they were seeing and passed on official information. Tags like #snomg and #snowmageddon told the story on their own. From Twitter to Facebook to Youtube, Old Man Winter not only shut down entire cities, he dominated social media as well.
There were even teachable moments, an example of which was a sudden Penn State Facebook controversy that popped up Wednesday morning and became a buzz heard all around the University community. This occured when a status update about Main not closing that many found snarky popped up on the official University Facebook page. No doubt this incident will find its way into a few social media conference presentations in the coming months.
I myself found it a good opportunity to remind folks something a lot seem to miss about weather - your weather experience may vary from other's nearby weather experience. For example, a mere 12 miles west of State College here in Port Matilda, I got double the snow UP received, much more than the "few inches" mentioned in the Facebook page status update. Such things happen.
Social media and weather have two things in common - they are very powerful and often underestimated. When the two come together, they create quite a show. I look forward to the happy ending in this winter's story - the glee that will spread across the social media world when us snow-weary people in the mid-Atlantic see our first nice warm day of 2010.
The tentacles of weather were all over social media this past week thanks to 7-10 day period of weather that can rightfully be described as historic in one of the most populated places on Earth. As two blizzards pounded the DC-Philly population corridor into submission, social media was abuzz. People reported amazing sights, posted incredible photos, passed on road closure and other information, made jokes about milk and bread runs, and of course, vented frustration. Media personalities like the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore tweeted what they were seeing and passed on official information. Tags like #snomg and #snowmageddon told the story on their own. From Twitter to Facebook to Youtube, Old Man Winter not only shut down entire cities, he dominated social media as well.
There were even teachable moments, an example of which was a sudden Penn State Facebook controversy that popped up Wednesday morning and became a buzz heard all around the University community. This occured when a status update about Main not closing that many found snarky popped up on the official University Facebook page. No doubt this incident will find its way into a few social media conference presentations in the coming months.
I myself found it a good opportunity to remind folks something a lot seem to miss about weather - your weather experience may vary from other's nearby weather experience. For example, a mere 12 miles west of State College here in Port Matilda, I got double the snow UP received, much more than the "few inches" mentioned in the Facebook page status update. Such things happen.
Social media and weather have two things in common - they are very powerful and often underestimated. When the two come together, they create quite a show. I look forward to the happy ending in this winter's story - the glee that will spread across the social media world when us snow-weary people in the mid-Atlantic see our first nice warm day of 2010.
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