Public and professional social networks in broadcast media: Using the masses to help inform and save lives

Public and professional social networks in broadcast media:  Using the masses to help inform and save lives

This week, my analysis of CMGT 500’s readings and instructional materials will take a somewhat different angle.  The readings and assignments have focused on the study and understanding of informal social networks within organizations.  The class has looked at several concepts involving informal network including advice, trust and communication networks (Krackhardt & Hanson,  1993), exposing and optimizing underlying informal networks (Cross, Borgatti, & Parker, 2002), knowledge transfer across informal social networks (Levin & Cross, 2004) and the strength of weak ties within an informal social network(Levin & Cross, 2004).  The focus of this analysis will be to take the concepts of organizational informal social networks and apply them on a much broader scale.  We will look at a television broadcast station, their social networking champion, and his efforts to utilize the power of thousands to inform and protect the public as a whole.

This week, I had the opportunity to interview James Spann, Chief Meteorologist at WBMA-TV in Birmingham (ABC 33/40).  Spann is also president and principal owner of The Weather Company, a Birmingham-based weather content provider for over 100 radio broadcasting companies across the southeast and professional meteorological services for large corporations and law firms .  Spann is a native of Alabama, beginning  his broadcasting career at age 16 as a radio announcer in Tuscaloosa, AL.  He has been a broadcast meteorologist for 32 years, primarily in the Birmingham and Dallas/Ft. Worth television markets.  Spann holds Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) status from the American Meteorological Association and the National Weather Association Seal of Approval, two of the highest and most-prestigious certifications that can be bestowed upon operational broadcast meteorologists.  James is an Emmy-winning broadcaster, recipient of an Edward R. Murrow Award and has been named top weather anchor numerous times by the Associated Press,  Alabama Broadcasters Association and the Dallas Press Club (James Spann bio, n.d.).

And for the purposes of full-disclosure, Spann and myself have long-term personal and professional relationships.  James was in my wedding in 1993.

The Interview

 DT:  James, thanks for giving me some time to talk to you today.  As we discussed on the phone earlier this week, one of my classes for the USC graduate program is working through the study of informal social networks and their value to organizations.  You have become a noted expert in using informal social networking to engage your viewers and utilize the relationships you have built over the years so that your viewers, your colleagues have become sources of valuable information.  Tell me a little more about how you realized the value of turning an interaction into a transfer of knowledge.

JS:  Well, from the start, I’ve always been a computer or a technology geek. I got interested in technology when I was just a kid and I received my first HAM radio operators license.  Even though I was just a kid, the amateur radio operators allowed me to assist them when major disasters struck our state.  Back in the day, HAMS were a very important source of dispensing information to local and state governmental agencies and the media.  It was amazing what a group of far-flung radio operators could do when most other means of communication were out or not widely available.  When computers came along, of course I got interested in those.  And back in the early 90’s, when the Internet was coming into the mainstream, I learned all I could about that technology.  I just had a feeling that as access to the Net grew, it would have so much potential to do a lot of the things that the HAMS could do, but with wider reach.  The Internet would be in the hands of everyday people, not just licensed operators.  When I was at WBRC-TV, we were the first station to put up a website totally dedicated to the forecasts for the market area.  When the public grabbed hold of that information that used to be available with the morning paper or our news broadcasts, things just took off from there.

DT:  So as an early-adopter, you had the chance to be at the front of the line, so to speak, when the Internet hit its stride in the mid to late 90s?

JS:  Absolutely!  We were light years ahead of any of our competition.  The viewers realized that they could get accurate weather forecasts at the click of a mouse, when they wanted the weather.  And as we were able to add live radar feeds to our websites, that took usage for our online products to a whole different level.

DT:  Okay, James, lets fast-forward to today.  There is amazing technology available for your to get information out, but there is also the fact that information flow is now two-way between audience and meteorologist.  And with that you have built out informal networks, really based on social communication.  Tell us about your informal social networks.

JS:   I look at what you are calling informal networks that we use now in two parts.  We have the public-facing network.  With the use of email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, texting, blogging and our old website, we make a connection with viewers in a way that makes them feel like they have the opportunity and even the responsibility to participate.  Information, photos, videos, mobile webcams  shots all pour into our department.  During calm weather, the communication is light, not very serious.  We use a lot of viewer-generated content on our on-air operations as well as our online channels.  You’ve seen all the sunsets and sunrises we post and show from all over the world?

DT:  I’ve seen those, and I think you have put one or two of mine out there.

JS:  (laughing) Yeah, we have to give everyone a chance every now and then!

DT:  Very funny James, very funny!

JS:  Seriously, though, our social media outreach or social network connections allow us to provide much more localized information during times of severe weather.  During the tornado outbreak last April, we had Twitter followers who were at the scene of the worst storm in Tuscaloosa within five minutes of the tornado touchdown.  And within that time we were able to broadcast pictures and even video from ground zero in Tuscaloosa.  This type of real-time information allows us to give our viewers better information, quicker.  When we saw the severity of the storm in Tuscaloosa, we were able to warn people in the Birmingham metro that the storm was tracking straight toward downtown Birmingham.  If we had not had built relationships with our Twitter followers, and even our Facebook followers, this may not have happened.  And, one of the storm spotters that we knew from our Twitter feeds and blog interaction actually provided live video from his car, driving down I-59 toward Birmingham, with the actual tornado running alongside the interstate.  Again, having that information or knowledge allowed us to provide detailed and urgent information to people who were upstream of the storm.  It was amazing.

DT:  James, you also have an informal network of meteorology professionals that your work with.

JS:  Yes, that network of people who work in meteorology all over the state become an incredible funnel of information, no pun intended.  We have a network that is between us and the National Weather Service.  We communicate through instant messaging and a secured Twitter feed.  Many times the Weather service guys can get warning and storm track information to us quicker, even while we are live on the air.  This helps to get people to take cover in the affected areas.  We also work with the local emergency management agencies throughout central Alabama.  They are a conduit of knowledge from the local perspective and many times provide ground truth to the actual warnings that we broadcast.  Then after the storm we use our private online networks, along with Twitter and email to help get first responders and other types of assistance into the hardest hit areas, often within minutes of a storm’s passing.  These networks are not officially sanctioned networks, they are based on our professional associations as far as protecting  people and getting out information to the public during natural  disasters.  And we all have agreements that anything that crosses our devices from our professional networks is fair game for air.  Competition goes out the window when an E-F5 tornado is ripping your town apart.

DT: What would you say are your biggest challenges in managing that massive amount of traffic from all of your informal networks would be?

JS:  This is a huge issue.  We have 95,000 “likes” on Facebook and close to 60,000 Twitter followers.  When the weather gets active, you can only imagine the amount of information that is flowing into us.  We often can’t push information back through those channels ourselves because we are live, on the air in long-form tornado coverage.  But all of our station’s weather personnel, along with key personnel in the news department monitors this traffic for important information.  They then pass it along to me, and back down to the people and agencies we work with to give them the best, and most timely information possible.  It’s all about a two-way exchange of what we know.  And I can’t imagine doing this job without all of the informal networks that we have built over the years.  It really is a great time to work in my field with all of the information we have access to as a result of social network connections.  I can’t wait for the next big thing to come out!

DT:  And I am sure when the next big thing comes out, you’ll be one of the first to use it.  James, thanks so much for your time.  And thanks for sharing with my class.

JS: You’re welcome, DT.

Video of James Spann's coverage of the April 27, 2011, tornado outbreak in Alabama that resulted in almost 250 fatalities.  This tornado eventually passed within 10 miles of my home.

References

Interview with James Spann (personal communication, March 18, 2012)

James Spann bio, (n.d.).  Retrieved from http://www.jamesspann.com/

James Spann bio, (n.d.).  Retrieved from http://www.abc3340.com

Krackhardt, D, and Hanson, J. (1993). Informal networks: The company behind the chart.  Harvard Business Review, pp. 104-111.

Cross, R., Borgatti, S., & Parker, A. (2002). Making invisible work visible: Using social network analysis to support strategic collaboration.  California Management Review, 44( 2) 25-46.

Ibarra, H., & Hunter, M. (2007). How leaders create and use networks.  Harvard Business Review, 1-9 .

Levin, D.Z., and Cross, R. (2004) The strength of weak ties you can trust: The mediating role of trust in effective knowledge transfer. Management Science 50, 1477-1490.