The impact of social media on storm chasing

[Jonathan Scrogham]

Hello everyone, I found an article I thought was interesting, and wanted to share it with y’all. No doubt social media has had a tremendous impact on storm chasing.

Article

Curious to see everyone’s thoughts on this. No doubt everyone has their own opinions about how social media has affected storm chasing.

 

[John Farley]

Given that I am 74 years old, it is probably a surprise to nobody that I tend to agree with the veterans in this article. I am not sure there are really more chasers now - there were a lot a decade or so ago, too - but it is absolutely true that social media encourages dangerous behavior, as people compete to get the most dramatic (i.e. closest) video. Besides putting the people doing this in danger, it also can put other people in danger, too, as chasers race to get the best view and look at their phones more than the road.

A couple other points. First, one of my biggest beefs is that too many chasers have moved entirely to social media, no longer posting on sites like this one. Thus, it is harder and harder for chasers to find content from other chasers, even on days when you were all on the same storm. Back in the day, most chasers' reports, photos, and videos were posted to Storm Track or in a handful of email groups. Now, they are all over the place on all kinds of different social media platforms. I really prefer having one place where chasers go to share their forecasts and their chase reports, but that has largely disappeared. In this way, I think social media has really undermined community among storm chasers. My other point is that the title of the article refers to storm chasing as a "profession." For the vast majority of chasers, it is not.

 

[Jonathan Scrogham]

A couple other points. First, one of my biggest beefs is that too many chasers have moved entirely to social media, no longer posting on sites like this one. Thus, it is harder and harder for chasers to find content from other chasers, even on days when you were all on the same storm. Back in the day, most chasers' reports, photos, and videos were posted to Storm Track or in a handful of email groups. Now, they are all over the place on all kinds of different social media platforms. I really prefer having one place where chasers go to share their forecasts and their chase reports, but that has largely disappeared. In this way, I think social media has really undermined community among storm chasers. My other point is that the title of the article refers to storm chasing as a "profession." For the vast majority of chasers, it is not.

I completely agree with your first point. Social media just has a lot of other crap on their apps and sites that I really don't care about. It really is a shame that less people are active on Stormtrack than a decade ago. I do like some of the social media formats, so I do wish there was a specific storm chasing social app where you could post short form content and smaller posts. I do love Stormtrack for longer posts and more thoughtful discussions, but it just isn't formatted for posting like a social media app, and I think that deters some people from joining or being more active. It also just does not have the visibility as social media sites.

 

[Jamie H]

It's really become about doing something 'different', something 'more', something no one else has. Freddy says it in the article, that he feels he needs to get close to get that better shot that'll get him views.

But to what end? So your video has some more views?

I suppose the big change came from high-speed internet being a normal function for Gen Z. I'm lucky enough to have grown up during the change from the analogue to digital world, from recording storm programmes on VHS to being able to watch live streaming on YouTube. For the older of us who remember that world, I think finding the right area, finding the right storm, observing it, and hopefully seeing a tornado is satisfying.

For the younger generation it's a different thing because you can follow the last model run on your phone, have radar direct you right where you need to go, and you can upload your video within minutes if you really want. People can do anything they want now and it won't ever stop. Everything nice ends up on social media, especially TikTok now, and suddenly millions are interested in it.

 

[Roberto Gaianigo]

In a certain sense, I am consoled by finding that there is also a hemorrhage from the specific forums towards Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, etc. We also have the same problem in Italy but the storm chasing activity does not have the same recognition as in the United States, probably because many of you do it as a profession.
The indiscriminate use of cell phones while driving has led our government to tighten the highway code, think that they have proposed in parliament a fine of 1600 euros and the suspension of the license for 2 months... I don't even want to know with which " devices" will be able to issue fines. we already have the streets littered with speed cameras... These for me are the only consequences of social media.

 

[Todd Lemery]

I personally think it’s funny a lot of people say it’s a profession, insinuating that it’s profitable. I’m sure there are some people clearing a profit after gas, hotels, food, vehicle repairs and buying equipment, but it sure isn’t me. Maybe it would matter if I didn’t take crappy pictures and was active on social media. Heck, I’m still years behind on going through video I’ve taken. It seems like there’s always something else I have to get done.
Those who work on getting followers and get as up close and personal as they can doesn’t bother me at all. My worry is the weekend warriors that normally don’t chase, but head out when there’s weather in their local neighborhood. These are the ones I believe get too focused on the storm and kinda forget about the driving part. People like me make enough mistakes while driving without having something taking my mind off of it.

 

[Drew Terril]

Something else that I've seen as a side affect of all this kind of runs contrary to the last part of the article. They talk about the increased sense of "community," but oftentimes that only applies to the ones who can get out and chase everything. Most of my close friends among the chase community are in the same boat that I am. Can't just drop everything and chase on a whim. Some of us in that category also have obligations in our normal life that prevent us from taking a "chasecation" for two weeks or more. I (and others) get a vibe from those who don't have those obligations that, because we can't chase everything, or don't have the big followings on social media, that we're somehow not on the same level as them. I've gotten the whole "not dedicated" jab directed at me before, because I value the stability in my life that took years to build. In a "what have you done lately" world, the overall body of work often gets ignored, especially for guys that have been around for a couple decades or more. Some seem to get off put when someone who has been around for that many years, but only gets to chase a handful of times a year, offers advice on things. I also think those of us who focus on still photography rather than video (which feels more like a chore for me), also tend to get relegated to that latter group.

The other disappointing trend of social media has already been alluded to by others. Forums like this one are an incredible repository of information that Facebook/Twitter/Instagram can't match. I'm still active on a couple of car related forums for that reason. If I run into something that I've not seen yet, I can do a search and, chances are, I can find someone who's dealt with that issue. Same with car modifications. There's not much in terms of driveline combinations that haven't been done to second gen Camaros, and when I started looking into my transmission swap that I'm currently working on, there were several who had done write-ups, with pictures and everything to show what it'll look like under the car at each step of the process. Haynes/Chiltons manuals and forums are how I learned how to rebuild motors and transmissions, and it's sad to see so many of them fall away because they can't compete with the "instant everything" that people seem to want.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Social media has turned chasing into an entertainment-based entity. The majority of people watching the high profile entertainers on platforms like YouTube are watching for screaming, thrills and death-defying stunts. No longer are pretty pictures and professional behavior going to make the cut.

The most disturbing element is how younger chasers emulate what they are seeing on social media, believing nincompoop behavior is how to conduct a chase.

 

[James K]

No doubt social media is whats driving storm chasing (and various unsafe behaviors in it) these days. Its all about who can get the most views/likes/etc, which sadly is done by posting the closest or most extreme video. Not even about quality anymore (like a nice steady clear picture).

Anyone with a phone & radar app can declare themself a 'storm chaser' now, even if they know little about storms or safety around them. Its sad honestly. Basically its like some of these guys have no "respect" for truly how powerful and/or how truly dangerous a storm can be.
I personally have yet to go chasing(that will require a setup close enough, and on a day when I am free to go out), but I took some time learning about storms/how they work/some of the odd things they can do/safety/etc ... and simple fact is I respect the potential power within a storm.
I aint going to be getting close...yeah I want to see a tornado, but I don't want to end up *inside* it or even right beside it ... and I also want to see some of the storm's structure, because there truly is beauty in the structure.

Pretty much the only 'social media' I use is YouTube (both for viewing and posting). Not a real fan of facebook (have an account, but I don't post stuff there). I've never used twitter or had interest in it, personally never got why it was so popular (but I'm also a 'computer guy' not a 'phone guy' when it comes to doing stuff online). And Tik Tok is the worst of them all. I won't touch that thing...in big part because its malware(spyware), but also because these days every time I hear a report of people doing stupid or dangerous things(not talking about chasing here, but in genera) for social media attention, its always on Tik Tok.

 

[Brett Roberts]

In many ways, the Internet was a better place in 2003 than it is in 2023. Drew's example of scouring old school forums for niche tribal information about Camaro mods really crystallizes why this is the case. It's remarkably depressing to recognize that some storms back during the era of AOL and 30-lb CRT monitors are perhaps more coherently documented than storms from this year, when every pre-teen local had a 4K camera and 5G connection in their pocket.

I recall being wildly optimistic about tech and connectivity growing up in the late 90s and 00s. It's not that I thought we would live in a techno-utopia by now; I just defaulted to assuming the slope of the year-to-year trajectory we were on would continue forever. What I finally recognize now is that said time period was the wild west era of a groundbreaking technology, which meant two things were happening that couldn't sustain long-term: (1) giant corporations and governments hadn't yet captured the system to a suffocating extent, and (2) nerds were quite disproportionately represented among users, so the Internet was arguably set up to cater to us at the time (e.g., the structure of forums focused on long-form conversations and organized information retention, as just one example).

Once the system is captured by a handful of nearly trillion-dollar megacorps, and they ruthlessly optimize for maximum engagement from a now society-wide user base, it's so obvious in hindsight why many things will deteriorate from the early days. Most average people are quite unlike the typical 2003 Internet power user; they see all the groundbreaking tech in the universe at their fingertips as a mere means to compete for social status, follow their celebrity heroes, and possibly shoot their shot at becoming a minor celebrity themselves. And so the Twitterverse and the Gram are born, let alone TikTok. The worst part, of course, is that even a large segment of the nerds who *did* participate in ST and similar forums 20 years ago get seduced over to the SM engagement d***-measuring contest, never to be heard from again. A classic race to the bottom. So now, all the 4K HDR content in the world is available within minutes of a good storm... but go back and try to locate it quickly a couple years later, and you might as well be in 1973.

Now, with all that out of the way... I'm a bit less dramatic about how the act of chasing in itself has evolved. There were always people in it for the "wrong" reasons; always attention whores; always hucksters filming their own faces with crocodile tears while clomping through fresh bloodstained rubble, even when it was with 20-lb camcorders in the 90s. Is a lot of that stuff worse per-capita now than 20 or 30 years ago? Possibly. On the other hand, as a degreed meteorologist, it's impressive to the point of my real surprise that hundreds of hobbyists now know how to interpret a sounding with meaningful literacy. Despite modern society functioning as a 24/7 engagement quest for many, it feels to me like the majority of chasers who last more than a year or two are genuinely interested; genuinely sharing in the same awe of nature that everyone back to Hoadley has tasted. Maybe witnessing a real-world spectacle that's entirely divorced from petty social ambitions, politics, or the whims of profit-seeking machines is actually pushing some of these kids who originally found storms on TikTok in the right direction.

 

[Jeff Wright]

I think social media allowed closer footage of tornadoes from motorists caught unawares---folks not even trying to be chasers.

 

[Jamie H]

I think social media allowed closer footage of tornadoes from motorists caught unawares---folks not even trying to be chasers.

And unfortunately, made people think they can have five minutes of fame from it too. "Here I am in a life-threatening situation - I better pull my phone out and record it!"

 

[Jason N]

Storm Chasing, meet "Ready Player 1".

Maybe we have to or are going to go through the bell curve of social media dedication/importance to its ultimate dissolution. Perhaps in the near future, there will be a trend to the opposite way of life, a paradigm shift where people get back out to nature to get away from tech, even though we will be left with the networks we built in place. I think it will be interesting to see if the psychological need for digital self-importance either through negative stigma, or societies knowledge that too much of anything is bad for you. Maybe we will find out that like cigarettes, too much digital stimuli increases the risks for brain re-wiring and addictions? maybe in the end, too much social media, will lessen the desires for acceptance and likes, so popularity will wane.

as a species, are we living through a period where our brains are adapting to more stimulus? are we becoming worse at communicating verbally because of it? will we become more isolated/tribal as a species to recover our own identities and privacy, despite the ability to digitally reach out to anyone, anywhere, anytime?

I would assume this has been a topic for human geographers, researchers, psychologists for some time now, but it's interesting to ponder.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Agree with much of what @Brett Roberts and @Warren Faidley said, in a similar vein to the thread I posted earlier this year following my March 31 chase.

I killed both my YouTube channels last week, including my Keota video and its 100,000 - some views (the only semi - "viral" thing I've ever shot). It was fine was it was clearly defined as a video sharing platform. Now it tries to be like Tiktok or Facebook and the app feed is polluted with tons of ads/"sponsored" content, clickbait, and other crap, and lowest common denominator content gets elevated all the time. There's a word for that.

There are still a few channels that really, consistently do produce quality content that have managed to gain a substantial following (such as chaser Trey Greenwood's "Convective Chronicles," but those are the exception these days and it's clearly been quite a grind for them to get to where they are).

I'll eventually create a new channel (or two - I was far more active on my railfan channel for a long time, with over 15 years of train videos that are now gone from the Internet). Maybe I'll re-cut and reupload the Keota video for the one-year anniversary next March 31.

 

[Jason N]

Convective chronicles is pretty good, Pecos Hank is "entertaining", and he does shoot quality video. Skip Talbot, Cameron Nixon and a few other channels for educational and technical refresh, are also good... I agree with you Andy, ads and click bail kill it for me.

 

[Jeff Wright]

Weather Channel had some good citizen-journalist footage today:

Over 180 Lake Erie Waterspouts, Record-Breaking Day - Videos from The Weather Channel

According to the International Centre for Waterspout Research, Saturday was a record-breaking day on Lake Erie with over 180 waterspout reports. Take a look at some of the impressive visuals from this waterspout outbreak. - Videos from The Weather Channel | weather.com

weather.com

 

[Rick Schmidt]

180 waterspouts? Or 180 REPORTS of waterspouts?

 

[Warren Faidley]

180 waterspouts? Or 180 REPORTS of waterspouts?

I believe (not confirmed) they were counting any type of lowering / funnel as a "waterspout." Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't believe it's an actual "waterspout" unless the circulation reaches the surface of the water.

 

[Bill Hark]

Like anything, I think social has had both negative and positive effects on chasing. The negatives are fairly obvious. I agree those earlier on this thread including the effects of "chasing for clicks" and those emulating bad behavior. I also lament the demise of a number of chaser websites and the loss of historic chase reports. I'd rather see chase images/video with a detailed report on the forecast, set up and decision process. Of course, that's more time consuming. I myself quit writing up reports and putting them on my website, though I still post images on Facebook and Twitter )X). I try to post here too though admittedly not as much as I should. Won't touch TikTok. There's so much useful info in written chase reports that is lost. I miss the old printed and mailed StormTrack. As for Twitter (X), I do find it very useful for quick real time updates especially as storms form. I'll add that there is a certain amount of "comparison is the thief of joy." One can be very happy with a chase until one sees what other's intercepted. That occurred years ago. it's just more acute with social media. I stil enjoy seeing others chase photos and video. I like storms. There's no turning back. We just have to deal with it and make the best of what's available. In the end, storms will always be fun to chase.

 

[Peter MacDonald]

The storm chasing community's reliance on Twitter is inherently self-destructive, and alternative modes of real time communication need to be established as Elon Musk implodes the platform. I went to reactivate my account recently and there are so many glitches on the official app. Never mind the bizarre political rants and disinformation campaigns that always seem to be magically promoted to the top of your feed. Twitter itself is facing a five-alarm fire, and I would be surprised to see it still around in any meaningful form by 2025. The main problem at the moment is that there are no viable alternatives. It has gotten to the point where I have distanced myself from "the community", and I have over the last few months contemplated leaving it entirely and pursuing a healthier hobby.

I appreciate the nostalgia in this thread about going back to pre-social media times, with print magazines and posting on forums like these, and I've also gone the direction of no longer using many apps. I've deleted Instagram, deactivated Twitter, never bothered with TikTok, don't post on YouTube. I do not care about fame, money, or views like a lot of people do. I have met a lot of people through this hobby, including one of the chasers interviewed in the article posted above. I will say it is a shame to see people warping this hobby into something it really shouldn't be. Storm chasing should be about having fun, enjoying the miracles that God creates, and collecting meaningful data to advance scientific research. It shouldn't be a competition to see how many tornadoes you have seen, how close you have gotten to being killed, or how much money you made on that Twitter post or YouTube video.

We are starting to see what happens when an entire generation grows up on social media and the internet, and as it turns out it's extremely damaging. I am right on the cusp of Gen Z and Millennial, so I think I can get a pass saying this without being called an angry boomer. Things are not looking very good right now. This isn't unique to any one particular hobby, but it is impacting storm chasing pretty hard. Outside of my weather enthusiast friends and political extremists I haven't talked to since high school, I really do not know anyone who even uses Twitter anymore. I think that itself says something.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Sadly, I'm close to giving up on a return to forums, blogs and web sites. When I try urging a movement back to it, I just end up by myself watching the rest of the weather world go on without me. The dopamine addiction of likes and shares is just too strong to pull most away from social media or even convince many to reconsider giving five to six figures of content value away to those platforms. That's a subject for another thread, many don't realize they could have bought a car or even a house with all they've given away, and I see indications that even if many did realize it, it wouldn't change anything. That's how powerful the collective addiction we're dealing with really is. What hope is there, given that? I don't know what the answer is, we've certainly tried just about everything on here over the years.

I bailed from Facebook in 2014 and haven't been back (aside from a private account I use to search for reuploaded videos). Twitter is still useful for realtime weather information and even reporting severe weather, as many of the NWS WFOs are active on it and the state wx hashtags have a good reach among local media. I have more than 50 words/phrases muted (Settings > Privacy and Safety > Mute and Block > Muted Words) which keeps my feed mostly weather and storm centered without any of the usual garbage. I realize some users aren't seeing the ability to switch between the algorithmic "For You" and the traditional chronological "Following" feed setting, but so far my feed hasn't been forcing me to the former.

In a perfect world, the NWS WFOs would have Stormtrack up alongside (or instead of) Twitter/X and the realtime reports and photos would come from here. It seems like many have a desire for that kind of thing, how to make it happen is beyond my abilities.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

The path I'm on has lead me back to this forum and has me moving away from social media more and more each day. I still have an active Facebook page where I post my photos (it allows my to post to Instagram at the same time so I post there as well but only because of this particular feature) for business reasons, but I deleted my twitter account with 6K followers over a year ago. I did start another account recently, but it was to have access to real time info from SPC and other weather authorities, which honestly helps while chasing.

Most of the reason for returning here is because I'm on a journey to get back to my roots of why I loved to chase storms in the first place. I no longer have the urge to share what I see or capture out in the field so posting anything chase related makes social media unnecessary for me. I find myself just wanting to go out and experience a good storm, and tornadoes aren't even close to necessary anymore. I joined this place in 2010 after going forever not even realizing there were a lot of other people like me who enjoyed storms like I did. I stopped visiting because I didn't feel like I had a lot to contribute due to my interest mainly being in how storms looked which didn't quite line up with the scientific side of things. But, these days I don't care because I don't feel the pressure to keep up with everyone else's experiences or expertise like in the old days, which is nice because it allows me to come back and enjoy everything at my own pace.

Social media is the exact opposite, where clout/fame/money is the carrot on the stick and today's algorithms are relentless in the content they serve up, and there's plenty of it to serve these days. I see Stormtrack as the backroads to the interstate that social media is, and it's a nice change of pace and a sort of refuge from the deluge of personalities and their end goals.

 

[Warren Faidley]

I still participate on most of the social media platforms, but my preferences are highly altered to filter out many, many keywords, including idiot chaser names, a host of political terms and almost all advertising. I've also altered what I see on the opening pages by using ad blocking filters to completely avoid entertainment and misleading / fake news headlines. I also avoid most of the live YouTube stunt chasers as they irritate the hell out of me. The exception is Ryan Hall, who provides decent coverage during big events and it's fun to watch events unfold in Dixie Alley. I rarely use social media during my own chases, unless I can relay information or someone provides disaster information where my EMT skills can be utilized.

The biggest problem with social media is calling people out for fake, dangerous or other types of chasing buffoonery. Don't even attempt to do it. The rabid fan bases will rip you to shreds. The good thing about ST is that you can still call someone out and have a decent and constructive conservation.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Social Media is a cancer to society and society seems terminal with cancer. Hard to believe it's been 4 years since I dropped twitter and probably closer to 6 years since I dropped fartbook.

I agree with Brett that the internet used to be better in 2003 than now. While I don't know of anyone being cancelled off socials for chasing storms, I would not be surprised for that to change in the future. I think the major wake up for me was watching the hysteria over a cold that was billed as the most dangerous bug of all time. Anyone who suggested something other than going to a hospital and being murdered by their "treatments" was billed as looney toons. Especially if you mentioned cheap alternatives, questioned a vaccine pushed by pharmaceutical companies, or realized masks didn't work, you were immediately cancelled. This will eventually happen to chasing too.

In which case, those that are cancelled may really lose all of their followers, videos, photos, etc like they never existed. This is why I've been putting my efforts into my website. The website makes me $0 and in fact costs me monthly to host it. Yes, my host could cancel me but my website is physically sitting on a machine at my house and can be published to any server on the web (including the one its sitting on) and I own the domain name. It's also archived on places like archive.org and I have contigency plans if I were to die to ensure the site remains online for awhile much like Eric Nguyen's site. Eric died before FB was really a thing, and Twitter didnt really exist either. Look at how chasing and sharing of video and photos has changed since then. How many chasers have put video up on youtube or tiktok or facebook or wherever and lost the original copy? I know it happens more than some where would like to think. I know most of y'all don't practice proper backup techniques.

Social media has turned chasing into an entertainment-based entity.

And this is the bottom line of the problem. I remember in 2011 when they were shooting the Discovery series in Murdo SD and I had a guest in from Finland. He was watching Reed and Joel re-take a scene multiple times at the hotel we were at. He turned to me and said "real TV not so real is it?" What people portray with a camera is not reality. It's really easy to set a camera just so to capture what you want and to leave out important details. That's also social media in a nutshell.

It's easy to portray the good times and hide your bad times. Reed rarely talked about his busts publicly, but always posted video of his triumphs. Then others see your life highlight reel and compare themselves to it. This tends to keep people focused on comparing to others and having a "great life" like others using Fear of Missing out (FOMO). It also fosters the herd mentality. The herd mentality is how we ended up with people on this forum feeling so self-righteous that they threatened to report people to "authorities" (lol) for chasing during 2020 "quarantine".

They talk about the increased sense of "community," but oftentimes that only applies to the ones who can get out and chase everything... Some seem to get off put when someone who has been around for that many years, but only gets to chase a handful of times a year, offers advice on things.

This was quite evident at the Chaser Summit this year. If you have a big social media presence and stream live and have your SN dot out there on storms, you are "popular". You don't follow that formula? Doesn't matter what you have seen, people have no idea who you are. I also had no idea who most were there. I guess that makes me a curmudgeon boomer, but whatever.

We are starting to see what happens when an entire generation grows up on social media and the internet, and as it turns out it's extremely damaging.

Too many people don't realize that twitter != real life. For many years the narrative was controlled by our own government. See the twitter files that Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi dropped. That appeases the statists or power hungry people who feel they have some sort of control over others lives and decisions. The best way to break free of all of that is to just distance yourself from the cancer.

 

[Warren Faidley]

This was quite evident at the Chaser Summit this year. If you have a big social media presence and stream live and have your SN dot out there on storms, you are "popular". You don't follow that formula? Doesn't matter what you have seen, people have no idea who you are. I also had no idea who most were there. I guess that makes me a curmudgeon boomer, but whatever.

This is an interesting observation and would make an excellent, separate topic. One reason I would never attend this specific event is because some view it as a "fan-boy" summit. It's the same people speaking every year and some of the speakers have likely done more harm to the chasing community than good.

It was great when guys like Doswell was actively involved in chasing and speaking because he was not afraid to shake up the chasing community when idiots acted up. He was one of the few respected chasers who had the guts and clout to do it justice. He called me out several times during my "younger" years for idiotic behavior and it made me a better chaser.