LAS VEGAS, Oct. 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Weather
Company, an IBM Business (NYSE: IBM) announced today that The
Weather Channel has launched a cognitive weather bot for Facebook
Messenger – powered by IBM Watson. Around the world, Messenger is
used to stay in touch with friends and family. Now with The Weather
Channel bot, it offers a way to view and share personalized
weather-related news content, current conditions, forecasts, severe
weather notifications, and other relevant weather information.
Every day, millions of individuals and businesses across the
globe rely on the hyperlocal weather data within The Weather
Channel's mobile apps and website, weather.com, whether it's to
plan their day, help them prepare for severe weather or make better
business decisions. With the launch of the new bot for Messenger,
The Weather Channel brings an entirely new customizable weather
experience to users. Leveraging IBM Watson Natural Language
Classifier and Alchemy Language APIs, over time the bot will learn
a user's preferences to deliver weather-related content specific to
their individual interests. Using the natural language and machine
learning capabilities of IBM Watson – as a person continuously
engages with the bot – it will make recommendations, predict, and
have conversations to provide a more personalized experience.
"At The Weather Company, we want to create the best user
experiences, and that means providing weather information and
content in any format people want to receive it," said Cameron Clayton, general manager, The Weather
Company, an IBM Business. "One billion people use Messenger every
month, and most want to know how the weather will impact their day.
The Weather Channel bot for Messenger will create a highly
personalized experience for each one of those individuals."
Bot features include:
- Current conditions and hourly forecasts
- Daily forecast and 5-day outlook
- Extended forecast information: accessible via a link to the
weather.com mobile website
- Severe weather alerts: option to view a summary or full
description of active alerts in the area (currently available in
the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe)
- Customizable notifications: select when to receive daily
forecast information and news
- Breaking weather news: access the latest local weather
news
- Content recommendations: utilizing news preference feedback, it
will learn a person's interests and deliver tailored news content
(U.S. only)
Available in 39 languages, Facebook and Messenger users can
easily access the bot through The Weather Channel Facebook fan
page, as well as the Messenger app.
The Weather Company, an IBM Business
The Weather Company, an IBM Business, is the world's largest
private weather enterprise, helping people make informed decisions
– and take action – in the face of weather. The company offers the
most accurate, personalized and actionable weather data and
insights to millions of consumers, as well as thousands of
marketers and businesses via Weather's API, its business solutions
division, and its own digital products from The Weather Channel
(weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com).
The company delivers up to 26 billion forecasts daily. Its
products include a top weather app on all major mobile platforms
globally; the world's largest network of personal weather stations;
a top-20 U.S. website; the seventh most data-rich site in the
world; one of the world's largest IoT data platforms; and
industry-leading business solutions.
Weather Means Business™. The world's biggest brands in aviation,
energy, insurance, media, and government rely on The Weather
Company for data, technology platforms and services to help improve
decision-making and respond to weather's impact on business. For
more, visit theweathercompany.com.
Twitter handles: @weathercompany,@weatherchannel,
@IBM, and @Messenger
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SOURCE The Weather Company, an IBM Business