When a water main broke in Hebron and water to the entire village was turned off, one village trustee turned to his cellphone and Facebook.

Trustee Mark Mogan joined Facebook when his children asked whether they could have accounts. He figured he’d sign up to keep tabs. He later came up with the idea of a municipal page and created Hebron’s account in late March 2011. For the most part, he mainly had been posting weather alerts and the occasional event reminder.

With a population of just more than 1,200, Hebron’s page hadn’t been getting a lot of traction. But with the news of the water main break in November, the number of “likes” on the page shot up to 73 from eight.