Missouri agriculture officials are using social media to share information about this summer’s lack of rain, extreme heat and wildfires.

The University of Missouri Extension is encouraging people and groups to post on a Facebook Inc. page devoted to the drought. It’s the latest effort to use Facebook to respond to disasters.

Facebook pages also were set up after last year’s flooding and the tornados in Joplin and Branson.

Extension officials have a guide for using social media to respond to disasters. It’s been downloaded and printed over 10,000 times, used at FEMA trainings, and even distributed to county emergency management personnel in some states.