The rise of social media and the internet has played an important role during the winter, providing valuable travel updates, weather information, and flooding details.

During the past week alone, there have been flood warnings from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, road closures on the Traffic Scotland website, rail delays and cancellations from Scotrail to name just a few.

The Largs and Millport News Facebook site now has nearly 7000 followers, and during recent weeks, has provided essential details on the ferry disruption affecting Cumbrae, road and rail disruption, and all the latest news.

Whether it be weather bombs, hurricanes, or hashtag #Scotstorm, the digital media is now the first port of call for many trying to get to work in the morning.

Reporter Calum Corral launched the Largs and Millport Facebook site, and said: “I think the rise in social media is a good thing in that everybody can now look out for each other, even on the wildest of days. Storm and travel information can now be highlighted to the closest proximity, and people can be well warned about no-go areas, and make alternative travel arrangements. I was amazed when the Ardrossan Coastguard tweeted that the galeforce winds at their peak measured 112mph at 4am on Friday 9 January. When we reported it on the Largs News Facebook page, it received 113 likes, and was shared among 69 people, and our post reached 11,900 people - that is the power of social media.

“Another example was two years ago in March when we received heavy snowfall, and some enterprising students built an igloo on Largs beach to great acclaim, even to the point that the photos appeared in the national press. The picture was posted up on our Facebook site at 4pm on a Saturday, and within four hours, it had received 1000 likes. And by the end of the week, we had hit the peak with over 80,000 views in a week on our Facebook site. That is staggering!” The Largs News Facebook page regularly carries impressive scenery and landscape photos, and of course, nostalgic pictures of the past from our archive.

The ‘Largs People’ Facebook site started up one year ago, and residents have been quick to provide weather updates, and travel information on that site too.

Marlene McAdam, who set up the site, said: “I decided to set up the Largs People site and it has really taken off. I started it off at the beginning of last year as a handy local resource, and it has been very popular. It started off with a lot of historic photos of the Largs area, and people have been very good at contributing and sometimes a wee gem comes up which you haven’t seen before.

“Due to the extreme weather, it has changed course over the last few months, and it has been really busy since Christmas with the wintry weather.

“It is very up to the minute, and I quite like it that everyone informs each other what is happening from whether roads are closed to whether it is worth sending the kids to school, right down to spotting a neighbour outside a house struggling getting up a hill with their shopping. Sometimes a request is sent out to give people help to get a lift up the road. It is all about looking out for each other, and Facebook and digital media are a great source of help in that respect.” The trafficscotland.org website provides details on road closures all over Scotland, and if you are planning a long or short journey, is an important indicator during the dark days of winter.

Location, and descriptions of road disruption feature on the site, and there is even an online radio service for latest information at trafficscotland.org/trafficscotlandradio It provides regional broadcasts updated twice an hour during peak times and once an hour at all other times from Sunday to Friday. Information on the latest network conditions direct from the Traffic Scotland National Control Centre including incidents, congestion, roadworks, events, severe weather warnings and public transport information.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency provides details on river and coastal flooding updates for Scotland at floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodupdates - and is an increasingly useful page for flood warnings at Largs seafront, Fort Street and Millport.

You can sign up for direct updates from floodline.sepa.org.uk/floodingsignup/ or phone Floodline 0345 998 1188.

Train times, disruption and engineering works on the line are regularly updated at www.scotrail.co.uk and during disruption, you can get up-to-date information on your journey by using their mobile phone app or rtext ScotRail to 86688. Scotrail are also very active on Twitter.

And another highly useful site to help you access the latest information from school closures to road updates is the North Ayrshire Council services update page at www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk/alerts/service-alerts.aspx