Facebook and Twitter aren’t just for looking at your friend’s profiles anymore. Now you can find out information from local governments like Grayson, Collin and Cooke counties.

These counties are using the social networking sites to reach out to the public in a whole new way.

"It's much easier to reach out to them. We're not trying to push information since we're government; we're just trying to be accessible,” said Eric Nishimoto, Collin County Public Information Officer.

It seems like everyone's caught the Twitter bug... Sending out updates in short text messages on the web or by phone has become more popular than ever.

Grayson County Emergency Management has been using the site Twitter for a few weeks now.

"Well I think those of us who work in emergency management have to face the fact that the public is getting their information in a different way now,” said Grayson County’s Emergency Management Coordinator Sarah Somers.

Somers said she often uses her phone to post updates as soon as something happens. And she feels connected to other organizations by commenting and following their Twitter sites as well.

Collin County even has a fan page on Facebook. The page has only been up for about a week and Nishimoto says there’s already a lot of activity on it. And residents can leave their comments and opinions on the page as well.

"That's one of the best things about these social networking sites, you just put yourself out there and people can find you easily,” said Nishimoto.

And even though this form of communication might be new to city governments, the sites themselves have been around for several years. And both Nishimoto and Somers say they believe they’re here to stay.

"I know some people object to the fact that this is communication, that it's more impersonal, it's more detached. But obviously there are millions of people who love this,” said Nishimoto.

One of the biggest bonuses for government agencies? It’s free.

Somers said the sites are great for the OEM because there is no cost. It would have cost thousands to create a similar site and distribute information in the same way as Twitter or Facebook. That’s one advantage that many governments are tapping into.

"A lot of government agencies are using it to put out information, preparedness information, training information, little bits of knowledge that we want to share with the public cause that's who we work for,” said Somers.