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Public Information Statement, Comment Request

National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC

848 AM EDT Mon Apr 18 2011

TO: Subscribers:

-Family of Services

-NOAA Weather Wire Service

-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network

-NOAAPORT

Other NWS Partners, Users, And Employees

FROM: Iftikhar Jamil, NWS Chief Information Officer

David B. Caldwell, Director, NWS Office of Climate,

Water, and Weather Services

SUBJECT: Soliciting Public Comments Through April 30, 2012

On Experimental Local NWS Facebook Pages and

Enhancement to National NWS Facebook Page

The NWS is currently seeking comments on provision of environmental information via experimental local Facebook pages and the national NWS Facebook page. Facebook is a commonly used social networking service which allows participants to share information with other users. NWS has already established an effective national Facebook presence for purposes of outreach and education and has prototyped several local Facebook pages to explore expansion of this presence to the field office level.

The local NWS Facebook pages will provide a complementary means to disseminate important information about hazardous weather conditions. The local pages also will be used for public outreach and education and to direct users to official NWS web sites. The enhanced national Facebook page may now also include environmental information of national significance in addition to outreach and education.

Experimental local Facebook pages are available at this time for the following NWS offices:

WFO Fort Worth:

www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.FortWorth.gov

WFO Seattle: www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.Seattle.gov

WFO Pleasant Hill:

www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.PleasantHill.gov

WFO Honolulu and Central Pacific Hurricane Center: www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.Honolulu.gov

WFO Norman, OK: www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.Norman.gov

WFO New York: www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.NewYorkNY.gov

WFO Billings: www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.Billings.gov

Alaska Region offices: www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.Alaska.gov

National Hurricane Center: www.Facebook.com/US.NOAA.NationalHurricaneCenter.gov

North Central River Forecast Center: www.Facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.NCRFC.gov

It is NWS’s intent to implement local Facebook pages for all NWS offices. New pages will be added gradually throughout the comment/review period. A search within Facebook for “US National Weather Service” will identify current pages.

Experimental local Facebook pages will serve as a supplemental channel to disseminate environmental information. Availability of this service is subject to constraints of Facebook service availability and to availability of users’ internet service. Users should not rely on this service as the primary means of receiving alerts/warnings of hazardous weather. NWS alerts/warnings are available on NOAA Weather Radio and on our official website: http://www.weather.gov/. Responses to users’ posts are made on a time-available basis and may be limited, especially during periods of severe weather.

Additional information on the experimental Facebook pages may be found at:

http://products.weather.gov/PDD/facebook_sdd.pdf

Users must have valid Facebook accounts to search for pages or post content. Information on Facebook can be found at:

http://www.facebook.com/

Comments on this experimental service may be provided through April 30, 2012 at:

http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=lofb

Disclaimers regarding NWS use of social media services can be found at:

http://www.weather.gov/disclaimer.php

http://www.weather.gov/credits.php#socialmedia

If you have comments or questions regarding this Public Information Statement, please contact:

Ronald Jones

National Weather Service