Characters Building Community: Broadcast Meteorologists and Their Audiences on Facebook

Social media platforms offer professionals in traditional media (TV, radio, film) an opportunity to build a personal brand, share information, and engage with the public online. These same platforms offer members of the public the opportunity to engage with media professionals directly. Broadcast meteorologists and their audiences are one such example of this engagement. As frequent communicators of vital warnings surrounding dangerous weather, the communication practices of these meteorologists can impact the safety of individuals in their audience. In this study, I investigate how broadcast meteorologists in the New Orleans Metropolitan Area and their audience members build communities on Facebook. I engage in participant observation to collect data of communication and engagement between these populations on Facebook. I then conduct a thematic analysis of the observation data to determine what trends and themes occur and recur in these communications. I use the analysis to paint a descriptive portrait of the jointly constructed culture between the meteorologists and their audiences.