The Social Amplification of National Weather Service Communication: Impact of Audience Population Factors and Message Content Features

Unlike traditional media (i.e. television and radio), online social networks (OSNs) allows users to easily pass information to their peers – this is especially important for critical information such as those disseminated by hazard related organizations like the National Weather Service (NWS). This research examines factors that influence the retransmission of NWS public messages on the OSN Twitter by utilizing a near census of over two million messages published by NWS Weather Forecast Offices between 2010 and 2019. We identify factors that lead to the amplification or attenuation of message passing including message level “micro-structural” features, message content, demographics of the population audience (educational, socioeconomic, and racial), and the region’s hazard history. Initial findings support early research by Allport and Postman (1947) and Shibutani (1966) on what makes information more or less likely to be passed on. While the medium used may change the human social elements stay the same. These findings provide policy implications for hazard related organizations like the National Weather Service in constructing and relaying effective messages.