If there was one extreme weather preparedness action you want your loved ones to take, what would it be? For many, that one action is to know ahead of time where their safe place is located. In early April, NWS offices encouraged their social media followers to take a “selfie” and post with the hashtag #SafePlaceSelfie. Trevor Boucher, forecaster at the Austin/San Antonio office and chair for the National Weather Association Social Media Committee, supported this idea from its infancy by stating, "What makes the SafePlaceSelfie campaign so powerful is it's simple message and call-to-action. If you're sitting in your home or at your desk at work looking at Twitter, what are you more likely to do? Memorize an infographic with multiple steps on how to be prepared or take a quick selfie in your tornado shelter? This campaign keeps it simple, while making a paramount preparedness action fun and interactive. And most importantly, we can see it working.” Trevor, along with Douglas Hilderbrand and Corey Pieper, NWS Office of Communications, led the charge to encourage NWS offices and WRN Ambassadors to submit their selfies and share safe place preparedness information.
How can offices better support #SafePlaceSelfie? First thing you and your office can do is continue to use the hashtag in your social media outreach. Have a notable event on the horizon? Integrate the hashtag with your safety messaging. Highlight safe places for the particular hazards you are expecting. Then, keep an eye out for the next large-scale #SafePlaceSelfie event. Engage your local WRN ambassadors, media, and encourage not only the office to participate, but also your personal social media accounts. Together, we can move the dial of national preparedness by encouraging others and serving as an example ourselves.
