After revealing last week that the Village of Mokena's Facebook page wasn't authorized and isn't run by the Village, Mokena Patch took a deeper dive into the web-savvy techniques of Mokena businesses. Are these technological means of communications worth it?

Mary Beth Windberg thinks so. She is in charge of the Mokena Community Park District Facebook page, which she created as a way to reach out to more people.

“It’s a great tool for blurbs and headlines about upcoming events,” Windberg said. “We get more feedback from Facebook than we do from our website.”

Windberg said she also uses Facebook as a means to reach out to the younger demographic of the park district’s Facebook followers. More than 100 people "Like" the park district's page, which has regular posts reminding people of certain programs, registration deadlines and other announcements.

Then there’s the Mokena Chamber of Commerce. With only 62 Facebook followers, they have absolutely no posts since the day they created the page.

However, on Twitter, @MokenaChamber posts regularly with event information, new Chamber member announcements and links to weekly Chamber updates. Still, this Twitter account only has 43 followers.

The latest technological step for the Chamber was the smartphone application installed on Feb. 8, free of charge to every Chamber member and person with a smartphone. According to Melissa Fedora, chamber administrator, Mokena was the third chamber in Illinois to incorporate this app, following McLean County and Lake Zurich.

“It acts like a Yellow Pages application would, but the point is for residents to be able to easily go to one app on their phone and be able to shop the Mokena Chamber members easily,” Fedora said.

Any smartphone owner can download this application by visiting www.mychamberapp.com. The app can be used on iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android and Blackberry and includes a member directory with phone numbers, addresses and directions to each location searched.

There are around 30 Mokena businesses and/or organizations that have a Facebook account or Twitter account, some more actively updated than others.

• 191 South & Joe's Italian Villa has 1,198 followers. This page not only includes drink specials and updates on upcoming performances and events, but also video clips of past performances and contests, such as the bar's recent karaoke contest. 191 South also has a text update system. By texting “191” to 91944 from your cell phone, you get automatic texts sent to you with special offers.
• The Creamery has a monstrous 4,276 followers on Facebook, taking the cake for number of followers, although this is a Facebook site that incorporates all of the Creamery locations, not just the Mokena branch.
• Mokena Family Restaurant's and Mr. Benny's Steak and Lobster's pages are filled with raving fan reviews. A recent post on Mr. Benny’s site from a fan stated “We had dinner there last night - first time. Excellent service, excellent food, the facilities are in great shape. Look forward to another meal there soon!” 
• Mokena restaurants seem to be more visible on the web than the rest of other businesses, though SPINclub, Inc. is an exception. They have 334 followers and constantly offer spin schedule updates and links to articles that offer fitness and nutrition advice.
• The Sweet Company formed a Facebook page back in November 2010, well before they opened. That may be why they already have 143 followers.
• Tribes Alehouse has a whopping 914 followers on Facebook, another significant number for a fairly new business, but they also have a Twitter account with 172 followers. While the Facebook account seems to focus more on upcoming events, the Twitter account focuses more on what beers are being tapped soon.

Businesses on Facebook:

Fleckenstein's Bakery

Tequila Express

Mr. Benny's Steak and Lobster

Tony's Villa Rosa

The Sweet Company

Creamery

191 South & Joe's Italian Villa

Mokena Family Restaurant

Frankfort and Mokena Aurelio's Pizza

Ed n Joe's Restaurant

SPINclub, Inc.

Tribles Alehouse

Organizations on Facebook:

Mokena Community Public Library

Mokena Community Park District

Mokena Chamber of Commerce