Mike Dougherty's Blog

A good use of Twitter

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has a new fan — or at least a supporter of its program to tweet changes in road conditions online via Twitter, the 140-character messaging network, used primarily in a social manner.

My brother, Pat, who had heard that Arkansas had flooding problems before he left his home in the Dallas area on Christmas Eve, signed in to his rarely used Twitter account. He clicked on “follow” with the AHTD to have the latest in Arkansas road conditions sent to him on his Blackberry smartphone as he drove up to my parents’ house south of Little Rock.

Pat said it made a big difference in his ability to finish the trip. By the time he reached Benton, he knew that the area on Interstate 30 at the Saline County-Pulaski County line, which had been closed most of the day, had re-opened.