Dikes, sandbags, Facebook and Twitter: Fargo uses social networks to fight floodwaters

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — When Kevin Tobosa got word Thursday that a friend needed help building a sandbag dike, he immediately posted a status update on his Facebook page: "Heading to 2825 Lilac Lane in North Fargo — needs to be raised another 2 feet."

When city officials needed volunteers at other dikes, Tobosa suggested setting up a Facebook group. By Thursday, it had attracted more than 4,550 members and was constantly picking up new ones.

"We really need volunteers again today to get the dikes buttoned up and fill the rest of the sandbags," read a message sent to the group Thursday.

Social-networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become vital tools for volunteers as they wage a desperate, round-the-clock battle to protect Fargo from the river and spread the word about rising floodwaters.

"I realized a quick way to check it would be to set up a Twitter feed," said Elseth, who just closed on a house next to the river. "Naturally I'm pretty interested in the flood level."

Twitter allows users to post a constant stream of sentence-sized thoughts, observations and information.

Elseth posts the Red River's flood stage once every hour or so, information that then pops into the inbox or onto the cell phone of those who subscribe to his feed. By Thursday, his "redriveratfargo" had more than 300 followers, updated almost hourly as the Red River climbed toward its projected crest of 41 feet above flood stage.

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I find these applications of social networking sites very interesting... The mobile feature of Twitter (which allows 'tweets' to be sent to your cell phone) is quite handy, and the nice thing is that you can turn it off and on depending on your needs.

As you know, I am on the Twitter bandwagon - in fact I recently installed an application that syncs my Twitter account with my Facebook account - so when I update Twitter, Facebook gets updated with my latest tweet. Pretty handy stuff.