Sure, we’ve been all a-flutter about Twitter this year, but it’s nice to see a District agency actually put it to good use when it’s needed most.

The District Department of Transportation sent out a press release today lauding the fact that the city survived its first ever “Twizzard.” Bad joke aside, the release talks about the efforts made by the agency to employ social media during the weekend’s storm.

According to the release, DDOT posted some 100 updates to its Twitter feed from Friday on, updating followers on everything from weather conditions to the roads. Additionally, the number of people following DDOT’s tweeting increased by 250 over the weekend, pushing the total part the 1,000-person mark yesterday. We also liked DDOT’s Snow Response Reporting System, though other reviews have been mixed.

Of course, there are still improvements left to be made. DDOT’s 1,000 some-odd Twitter followers might seem impressive, but many District residents still rely on more low-tech ways to keep in touch with their government. Additionally, DDOT’s Facebook page only has 427 fans — not much for a city of 600,000 residents.

But for everything we can hope to improve, it’s good to see a local agency embracing new tools to better communicate to the District’s residents when it’s needed most. While there will always be some grumbling in the wake of a storm this big, I’m still impressed that things have basically gotten back to normal this soon after the snowpocalypse went down.