NWS Office Social Interactions

** Update: 6 Historical Facebook Likes maps at the bottom of this blog post **

Ever wondered how the various National Weather Service Offices around the country differ in terms of their social interactions? Periodically during the previous two years, I systematically counted the number of Facebook Likes and Twitter followers for each NWS Office around the country. My jury-rigged system allows me to do the tallies in about an hour or so (the mapping part actually takes longer). These maps represent the latest update of this project.

The following maps represent social media interactions as determined on March 28, 2015. There are two Facebook maps and two Twitter maps. In each section, there is a raw number of interactions and a rate (per 100,000 population) of interactions. In the case of Alaska, there are three NWS Offices but a single, shared Facebook page. However, each office has its own Twitter feed and there is a statewide feed. For this analysis, the Alaska Twitter feeds were combined into a single number so that a comparison with Facebook Likes can be made. The final section shows some comparative relationships between Facebook and Twitter interactions.

Facebook:

Figure 1. Raw number of Facebook Likes for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Figure 2. Rate of Facebook Likes per 100,000 people for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Twitter:

Figure 3. Raw number of Twitter Followers for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Figure 4. Rate of Twitter Followers per 100,000 people for each NWS office on March 28, 2015. Each label represent a rank from 1 (most) to 118 (least).

Comparison:

Figure 5. Ratio of Facebook Likes to Twitter Followers. Labels represent the ratio.

Figure 6. Scatter plot of Facebook Likes versus Twitter Followers.

WFO	Name	FB Likes	Twitter Followers	FB Rank	Twitter Rank
ABR	Aberdeen	6524	2693	105	101
AK	Alaska	38075	13298	15	11
ALY	Albany	24392	5011	27	60
ABQ	Albuquerque	7589	4453	95	65
AMA	Amarillo	34501	5622	16	53
EWX	Austin/San Antonio	9798	6273	73	47
LWX	Baltimore/Washington	34233	9198	17	22
BYZ	Billings	11756	2695	58	100
BGM	Binghamton	76373	5935	2	50
BMX	Birmingham	70230	14500	6	10
BIS	Bismarck	15850	2604	46	102
RNK	Blacksburg	24060	5037	29	57
BOI	Boise	6858	3115	101	93
BOX	Boston	54791	30200	10	2
BRO	Brownsville	13044	3160	55	89
BUF	Buffalo	9913	6998	72	41
BTV	Burlington	17834	5021	42	59
CAR	Caribou	18136	2004	41	114
RLX	Charleston (SC)	24575	7987	26	32
CHS	Charleston (WV)	6518	4367	106	67
CYS	Cheyenne	7869	2413	92	107
LOT	Chicago	74974	16000	3	6
CLE	Cleveland	12885	5201	56	56
CAE	Columbia	9315	3227	77	88
CRP	Corpus Christi	6633	3269	103	86
FWD	Dallas/Fort Worth	72142	23800	4	3
DVN	Davenport/Quad Cities	8513	3608	83	76
BOU	Denver/Boulder	11138	8995	65	24
DMX	Des Moines	25569	8377	24	30
DTX	Detroit/Pontiac	10119	4742	71	63
DDC	Dodge City	7349	3249	97	87
DLH	Duluth	7609	1780	94	117
EPZ	El Paso	4550	3624	115	75
LKN	Elko	5344	1961	112	115
EKA	Eureka	9176	2544	79	105
FGZ	Flagstaff	8471	5030	84	58
APX	Gaylord	8218	2403	86	108
GGW	Glasgow	8134	2148	88	111
GLD	Goodland	5103	2841	113	97
FGF	Grand Forks	7843	2567	93	103
GJT	Grand Junction	3860	1854	117	116
GRR	Grand Rapids	11106	4304	66	68
GYX	Gray/Portland	11655	3992	60	73
TFX	Great Falls	6243	2711	108	99
GRB	Green Bay	5703	3293	110	85
GSP	Greenville-Spartanburg	13716	4469	54	64
GID	Hastings	14291	3548	52	77
HFO	Honolulu	14454	7055	50	39
HGX	Houston/Galveston	9362	6473	75	44
HUN	Huntsville	22240	8959	32	25
IND	Indianapolis	16429	13100	45	12
JKL	Jackson (KY)	11580	3335	62	84
JAN	Jackson (MS)	68395	11200	7	18
JAX	Jacksonville	32218	3344	22	83
EAX	Kansas City/Pleasant Hill	70453	19600	5	5
KEY	Key West	18308	6343	40	45
ARX	La Crosse	9358	3433	76	80
LCH	Lake Charles	9753	2775	74	98
VEF	Las Vegas	8723	6811	82	42
ILX	Lincoln	19985	5336	35	55
LOX	Los Angeles/Oxnard	15457	12500	49	13
LMK	Louisville	17592	7734	43	34
LUB	Lubbock	6410	4381	107	66
MQT	Marquette	14371	3526	51	78
MFR	Medford	8910	2330	81	109
MLB	Melbourne	6962	4060	100	71
MEG	Memphis	21116	8539	34	27
MFL	Miami	13165	10400	21	20
MAF	Midland/Odessa	8420	2869	85	96
MKX	Milwaukee/Sullivan	18680	4219	39	69
MPX	Minneapolis/Twin Cities	19172	11600	38	17
MSO	Missoula	5466	2891	111	95
MOB	Mobile/Pensacola	19633	12000	36	16
MRX	Morristown/Knoxville	17058	3397	44	81
PHI	Mount Holly/Philadelphia	62037	16000	8	7
OHX	Nashville	44462	12100	11	15
LIX	New Orleans/Baton Rouge	25289	6030	25	49
OKX	New York	42671	22600	12	4
MHX	Newport/Morehead City	9141	2438	80	106
OUN	Norman/Oklahoma City	137098	43100	1	1
LZK	North Little Rock	58631	15900	9	8
LBF	North Platte	6749	3045	102	94
IWX	Northern Indiana	34074	8511	18	29
OAX	Omaha/Valley	11624	7315	61	36
PAH	Paducah	40565	8365	14	31
FFC	Peachtree City/Atlanta	24320	9137	28	23
PDT	Pendleton	7007	2083	99	113
PSR	Phoenix	7061	7469	98	35
PBZ	Pittsburgh	40880	12300	13	14
PIH	Pocatello	3003	2113	118	112
PQR	Portland	12865	5655	57	52
PUB	Pueblo	3987	3132	116	92
RAH	Raleigh	11474	7025	63	40
UNR	Rapid City	5862	2560	109	104
REV	Reno	10517	3814	67	74
RIW	Riverton	8114	1692	89	118
STO	Sacramento	15521	7956	48	33
SLC	Salt Lake City	6597	8706	104	26
SJT	San Angelo	10374	3377	70	82
SGX	San Diego	10451	4995	68	62
MTR	San Francisco Bay Area/Monterey	15835	15600	47	9
HNX	San Joaquin Valley/Hanford	9297	3522	78	79
SEW	Seattle	10429	5889	69	51
SHV	Shreveport	23827	3141	30	91
FSD	Sioux Falls	14186	7203	53	37
OTX	Spokane	7982	3141	90	90
SGF	Springfield	21531	6790	33	43
LSX	St. Louis	30802	7161	23	38
CTP	State College	19233	4999	37	61
TAE	Tallahassee	7965	5531	91	54
TBW	Tampa	11414	6322	64	46
TOP	Topeka	11704	6132	59	48
TWC	Tucson	4873	4173	114	70
TSA	Tulsa	33547	8535	20	28
AKQ	Wakefield	8217	2201	87	110
ICT	Wichita	23296	10700	31	19
ILM	Wilmington (NC)	7431	4031	96	72
ILN	Wilmington (OH)	33588	10300	19	21

Note: The Boston and Gray (ME) Forecast Offices swapped a few zone in southern New Hampshire in December 2014. Unfortunately, the maps do not reflect that change

Historical Facebook Likes:

At irregular intervals, I collect NWS Office Facebook Like totals. The follow six maps show the evolution of Facebook Likes since July 2013. All of the maps use the same class groupings. I found that it makes the comparisons over time easier to visualize. Unfortunately, I do not have any Twitter data prior to 2015.

Figure H1. Facebook Likes by WFO on July 13, 2013. Total = 772,995.

Figure H2. Facebook Likes by WFO on September 1, 2013. Total = 810,383.

Figure H3. Facebook Likes by WFO on February 2, 2014. Total = 1,012,526.

Figure H4. Facebook Likes by WFO on June 2, 2014. Total = 1,381,511.

Figure H5. Facebook Likes by WFO on August 14, 2014. Total = 1,629,994.

Figure H6. Facebook Likes by WFO on March 28, 2015. Total = 2,296,779.