Weather's impact on social media
Posted: 02.26.2013 at 11:24 AM

This is an editorial blog by Interactive Managing Editor Travis Ruiz

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Growing up, I lived for snow days. Yes, they were few and far between. (I grew up in the Oklahoma Panhandle.)

I can remember waking up extra early just to turn on the news. I'd be hoping, praying and crossing my fingers that my school's name would scroll across the bottom of the screen.

Fast forward about 10 years - It's 2013. Long gone are the days of us simply watching the crawl at the bottom of news stations.

We have and will always depend on our news organizations to deliver to us the news that matters - in a way that is convenient to us. Often times when whether strikes, it happens in ways that aren't convenient. The electricity can go out, your satellite can go out - it can hinder our daily lives.

With social media, news organizations are able to distrubute information in an instant. That information, often times can be life-saving and critical to your day.

If your cable is out, news organizations are there to help you know the information that is pivotal. School closings, weather alerts - the media is there to guide you through the extreme weather on multiple outlets - social media, websites, on air.

Social media, truly transforming the way we get our information and when it comes to weather, we flock to it.

Snow, rain, sunshine - whatever it is - we love posting the conditions to our social outlets of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and whatever else is next. We post our extreme weather photos to show others what we are going through.

Social media allows our neighbors and others from across the world to see what we're going through. That's why we love it. We have such a hunger to say "look what's outside my window." We want others to experience what we are experiencing! Whether it's through video or pictures, we love sharing our stories.

And that's what social media is all about - sharing our stories. It's about connecting our personal lives to others. It's about letting others know how we feel and what we are doing.