Social Media Becomes Growing Tool For Meteorologists Sharing Important Hurricane Forecasts, Updates

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Communicating before and during a storm is imperative for hurricane forecasters and meteorologists.

Social media has become an integral tool in getting out information quickly and efficiently.

Hurricane specialist Robbie Berg is not only a meteorologist, but he also has a degree in communications.

He is looking into how people actually behave when they are given hurricane information, and where that information comes from is being looked at more closely than ever.

"We've been doing a lot of Facebook Live interviews in real time during the past few years and we've gotten some really good feedback on that," said Berg.

They are taking that feedback and using it to predict people's behavior.

"How do people behave when the hurricane forecast changes over time? Go back and look at [Hurricane] Irma when it went from the east coast of Florida to the west coast of Florida and how did people take that information in," said Berg. "Did they freak out when it changed or were they understanding that forecast was going to change all along?"

Knowing the answers to questions like that can benefit us all.

"That will help us go forward and find new ways to share information on Twitter and show on Facebook," Berg said. "We're always trying to learn new ways of doing things."

The most important point is that the goal remains getting people the most accurate information.

That's why National Hurricane Center forecasts are used to inform the public on CBS4, on the CBS4 app and on our social media channels.