The Weather Channel teams with Twitter for social media channel
Aug 18, 2011 9:53 AM, By Michael Grotticelli
The new service represents an ambitious attempt to integrate Twitter into programming delivered across a number of platforms.
The Weather Channel Companies (TWCC) and Twitter have announced the launch of The Weather Channel Social, integrating timely, local, weather-related Tweets across TWCC’s television, web and mobile platforms.
Now consumers will be able to see real-time Tweets about local weather displayed alongside forecasts on www.weather.com, through The Weather Channel on mobile devices and on television. This unique integration was made possible by Wiredset’s Trendrr social curation and conversation analysis technology.
The launch is one of the most ambitious attempts ever made to integrate Twitter into multiplatform programming by a television programmer. It could lead to other such ventures.
As part of The Weather Channel Social launch, TWCC has also created 220 custom local Twitter feeds for cities with populations of 100,000 and above. These handles provide consumers localized forecasts every three hours. Users can access feeds for their location by clicking the “Follow the Forecast” link from local forecast pages on weather.com or can enter their city/state or ZIP code from www.weather.com/social/.
On an average day, the Weather Channel said U.S. users send approximately 200 weather-related Tweets per minute. On an active weather day, those users send between 300 and 500 weather-related Tweets per minute.
“Twitter gives voice and context to the topics people are most interested in, and everyone is interested in the weather,” said Chloe Sladden, Twitter’s director of content and programming.
The Weather Channel Social will be an integrated part of all TWCC platforms - on weather.com, the Social module appears directly below the current weather conditions on every local forecast page. This module will display several real-time, curated Tweets matched for relevance to weather in that particular location. In addition, each city has a dedicated local Social page, which displays a complete feed of real-time, weather-related Tweets, an aggregation of other TWC social and user-generated content, and the ability to Tweet their weather comments directly into the conversation.
On TWCC’s iPhone app, real-time Tweets will be featured on every local forecast page. A local Social page with a complete feed of real-time Tweets and the ability to directly participate in the conversation will also be available.
Social will also be integrated into dedicated segments during live programming on The Weather Channel network. On air, this will enable TWCC to bring users into the story by showing real-time messages before, during and after weather events as well as following and reporting on the leading weather trends from Twitter. Throughout TWCC coverage, it will highlight how people enjoy a perfect - or less than ideal - weather day and will celebrate the network’s most influential viewers. During severe weather, Social will be a powerful tool that will enable TWCC to tell a complete story of how a weather event is making its impact locally.
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