Thanks for talking with us during power failure

These are difficult and confusing times in the news industry, with the Internet and social media changing the world, but you, our readers, gave us a glimpse of how it can work.

Monday was a difficult and confusing time on the Hi-Line as a sudden blizzard dumped a foot or more of wet heavy snow all over north-central Montana.

Courtesy photo/René Brown

Havre Daily News Facebook fan René Brown shared this photo of her husband, Tom Brown, calving in the Bear Paw Mountains during Monday's blizzard. Other Facebook fans commented on René's photo:

• "Dedication & Love....True Montana Cowboy!" — Karla Kennedy-Zarn

• "What an incredible photo, full of emotion and powerful! Thank you for sharing it!" — Carrie Linie

• "This is a classic MT picture!!! LOVE it!!" — Dawn Hanson-Smith Linquist

• "this looks like a pencil sketch that comes in a calendar. Reminds me of the local artist Greytak." — Mellisa Thune-Hemminger

When the power went out, we lost our computers, our phones and our printing press. We couldn't share information like we usually do: delivering it to your door or to convenient locations.

But we had our cellphones, so we worked with what we had.

Sitting around our darkened newsroom, we found out as much as we could from police, NorthWestern Energy and the Montana Department of Transportation, and we passed it along on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/havredailynews), our Twitter page (www.twitter.com/HavreDaily), and through our new Hi-Line Text Alerts (www.text.hiline.us).

You not only listened, but you talked back, and you talked to each other.

Over the course of four-and-a-half hours and eight posts from us, you posted 84 comments, asking for more information, answering other peoples' questions or telling us and other readers new relevant information from where you were.

Even the next day, when most of the power was restored, you shared with us some of the amazing sights you ran across during the storm, helping us capture and share the experience.

The number of "People Talking About This" that Facebook tracks jumped 133 percent, which impressed us, especially since most people in our area didn't have power.

And Monday's blizzard was by no means the first time you have come to us to learn and share.

Last week's massive grass fire created a large spike of activity when you wanted to know what was going on, and we did our best to let you know.

In the two years we have been using Facebook, a number of these spikes have corresponded to significant events on the Hi-Line, including good times like local school teams heading to championship games or tragedies like the death of Blaine County Undersheriff Pat Pyette.

When a lot of people talk about social media such as Facebook, the discussion usually focuses on how it helps people communicate across the country or the world.

Zach White

We think it's great how it helped the Hi-Line stay connected, stay informed and just talk in ways that weren't even possible just five years ago.

So thank you readers for coming to us for information in an emergency, for talking to us and each other, for using our Facebook page as a community space to come together and share your experiences.

You keep that up, and we will continue to spread the most accurate and useful information available, whenever, wherever, however possible, no matter how difficult or confusing times get.

(Zach White is a Havre Daily News reporter and the paper's expert on social media.)