Twitter is going among the weathermen: The short message service has launched its own weather service called “Tomorrow” in North America. The weather subscription is set to expand to other countries in 2022.
Twitter is getting into the weather business. To this end, the short message service launched its own weather service called “Tomorrow” this week.
Together with the experienced climate journalist and meteorologist Eric Holthaus, Twitter now wants to expand the local weather news service.
The platform brings together all the new products Twitter has unveiled in recent months. These range from paid newsletters to live audio rooms at Spaces.
The service is already live in 16 cities in North America, including New York City, Washington, D.C., and Toronto. Next year, Twitter plans to bring its weather service to more countries.
In addition to Holthaus, 18 other local meteorologists are already involved, and 20-30 more are expected to join in the coming months. “We’ve launched with the largest collective of writers and experts,” Twitter head of product Mike Park tells Axios.
The weather demand is there
“Weather is a perfect fit for Twitter – some of the biggest spikes in conversation on Twitter are related to severe events like hurricanes, floods and fires,” Park says, explaining the decision to add the weather service.
Holthaus has already chalked it up to his own account, saying, “During Hurricane Sandy, my Twitter followers went from 5,000 to 150,000 in one week,” while simply “translating weather information into plain language and meeting people where they needed me at the time.”
In his Twitter direct messages, he often receives requests from distraught people around the world. When disasters strike, they turn to him for evacuation and emergency plans.
Twitter Tomorrow in numbers
A membership starts at ten US dollars a month. Meteorologist Holthaus’ stated goal: to be in the black by the end of the first week.
“The goal is to be in most of the top 50 media markets in North America by the end of this year,” Holthaus says.
Then, in 2022, Tomorrow aims to expand internationally – especially to places where Twitter usage is high but which don’t have robust weather services, such as India and Brazil.
The planned content
Subscribers can expect a mix of newsletters from the weather service, exclusive content on Twitter’s newest acquisition Revue, and live audio sessions at Spaces and Q&As.
For the Q&A format, members can ask an unlimited number of questions to meteorologists and climate experts during a weather disaster.
Initially, these Q&A sessions will take place by mail. However, Holthaus can also imagine a password-protected area at Revue in the future.
Twitter plans further projects
Twitter also wants to conquer other subject areas with this method in the future. To this end, further author collectives are to be created, which will operate in particular at the local level.
“Aside from individuals sharing news and knowledge, we think a collective approach is an extremely interesting model,” says product head Park.
For example, “writing online is supposed to be fun again,” and to that end Twitter wants to make it easier to “form a band.”
