Flood Victims Turn to Facebook

By Michael Malone
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

KXMC Minot’s Facebook page has become a valuable resource for the community that’s been besieged by flooding, reports Lost Remote.

The station in tiny Minot, North Dakota has close to 28,000 Facebook friends–a pretty fair tally for DMA No. 157 (Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson). And people all over the country are turning to “KX New Minot” on Facebook for updates.

Writes LR:

As we’ve seen with the tornadoes, the KX News Facebook page has turned into a steady stream of reports, questions and words of encouragement from North Dakota residents. With as many as 10,000 evacuees, many people are anxious about their homes they left behind. With the tremendous reach of the page, new wall posts, comments, photos and videos are appearing several each minute. KXMC is the market leader and is owned by Reiten Television. People in Minot–and beyond–appreciate KXMC’s social media efforts.“Just want to say thanks to the entire KX news staff for running their feed all the time,” writes Jordan Willert on KXMC’s Facebook page. “I’m sitting down here in Omaha Nebraska, sick to my stomach as I watch my home town drown. It’s amazing how the people of Minot have pulled together to battle the Mouse (River), and I am proud to say I am from Minot.”

Michael Malone
Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.