Who will you follow in 2014?
Linda Sappington
Governor Steve Bullock’s twitter account helps capture politics and personalities in Montana.
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LAKE COUNTY – From smartphones to tablets and desktop computers to iPods, Christmas 2013 provided the perfect opportunity to splurge on gadgets. The Internet puts the entire world at the fingertips of users, but sometimes the most useful virtual tools are ones that build on networks in real life. The following have online presences that help inform and bring together people living in Lake County:
• Lake County “Neighbors in Need” is a Facebook group meant to bring people who are down on their luck together with others who want to help.
“This group is meant for those of you who may have extra ‘treasures’ around your house and are willing to give them to someone who may really need them,” group administrator Aggie Incashola wrote on the top of the group’s bulletin board. “People hit hard times ... lose homes to fire, have unexpected financial issues, college students getting first apartments, you name it. We have neighbors in Lake County that could use our help. If you know someone who is in need, let’s get the world out there and see what we can do to help.”
In the past month, group members have coordinated drop-offs for a Ronan family that lost their home to fire and helped find a crib mattress for a mother who lost her job after spending two months at a Kalispell Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with her prematurely born son. A woman asked for help for a young homeless veteran who returned home from two tours of duty in Iraq completely disabled. Kind hearts conspired to bring a bit of Christmas cheer to a family with small children that was struggling to get by.
• When hand-painted signage depicting a map of Swan Lake was stolen last month, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office took to its Facebook page to ask the community for help locating the culprits. The post was shared 11 times, and reached at least 754 followers. The page doesn’t tell the familiar stories of the local police blotters in print media. Instead it offers warnings about local scams, reminders about driving safely when conditions are adverse, and information about the department’s community outreach and service. A Dec. 17 post detailed the department’s recent seven-hour Christmas shopping spree for people in need.
• Police Chief Jeffrey Ferguson is the sole officer of the St. Ignatius Police Department, but it only takes a moment of scrolling through the department’s rolls to see that he is constantly one the move, working on ways to build relationships in the community and keep the tiny town safe. The page was a hub for voting for a Halloween Contest the department sponsored this year, and has given warnings about scams, enforcement of snow ordinances, and lost pets.
• Roxane Rinard and her husband Karl Schwab run Developing Wings and started a community website in 2005 for Arlee. The website and the Facebook page run by the Arlee couple became instrumental in distributing information to residents evacuated or threatened by the Firestone Flats fire during the summer.
“We needed something in real time,” Rinard said in an August interview with the Valley Journal. “We needed to make sure the information was accurate for the website. There’s this inherent mistrust of Facebook. So we put the discussion on Facebook and the information on the website.”
When the Facebook page isn’t being used as a hub for information in emergency situations, it sends out a daily time-lapse video from a webcam that captures the changing sky views against the Mission Mountains. The couple also have pages titled Polson, Montana and Ronan, Montana that have daily time-lapse videos from webcams.
• Driving Montana’s roads inevitably means encountering road hazards. @mdtroadreport on Twitter keeps an up-to-date log of accidents, road closures, and driving conditions for highways across the state.
• Governor Steve Bullock’s Twitter account, @GovernorBullock, is at once witty and informative for all Montana-loving audiences, regardless of political orientation.
“.@Macklemore concert on Thursday in #Missoula. I expect a positive economic impact report on thrift shop sales @visitmissoula @msladowntown,” Bullock tweeted on Oct. 17.
His quips and shout-outs encompass a number of issues and places across the state that give followers a sense of his priorities as a politician and life-long Montanan. Bullock’s often humorous tweets stand in contrast to many politicians who use their accounts solely for self-promotion.
• The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are in the process of acquiring Kerr Dam. The corporation created to manage the dam is Energy Keepers, Inc. While the corporation’s Twitter account @EnergyKeepers has only six followers, the amount of news coming from the account has increased steadily over the past few months and is likely to increase more over time. The most recent tidbit of information released was a link to employment opportunities with the company.
• For those who can’t wait for reports from the weekly score boxes to see how Salish Kootenai College’s sports teams fared in their matches @SKCAthletics provides updates on where the teams are traveling and final scores.
• Sports fans will also likely enjoy @CharloFootball, which tweets final scores on game nights. Following the account is a perfect way for those who are out of range of local media to keep up with the Vikings in real time.
• A New Year’s Resolution to imbibe more knowledge is well-matched with greater interaction with Salish Kootenai College, which tweets a number of its events and public services through @skcollege and @SKCSSS. The Missoula-based Sci-Show web series, hosted by entertainer Hank Green, takes complex scientific mysteries, theories, and concepts and digests them into animated videos that are understandable and entertaining. The Sci-Show talk show happens once per week and often features scientists from Western Montana. A representative of the Flathead Lakers appeared on the show earlier this summer to talk about efforts to keep invasive species out of Flathead Lake’s watershed.
• The Valley Journal’s website is also chalk full of community news. With all printed stories and content uploaded weekly, including additional photos, timely updates and breaking news as it occurs, the Journal is committed to getting you the latest news, both in print and electronically.
