FIVE Twitter friends and outdoor enthusiasts are harnessing the power of social media to try to reverse some of the damage done to Cumbrian businesses by December's floods.

Alex Charlton @KeswickBootCo and Gary Redmond @StanPalmerHonda roped in fellow tweeters Paul McLoughlin @Glocky9, Rod Harrington @CumbriaWeather and Beth Pipe @CumbrianRambler, who between them have more than 37,000 followers on Twitter.

Although the five have never met before, they say they are united by a love of Cumbria and they have pooled their social media expertise into @NotJustLakes – a Twitter account created and managed by them to promote and support Cumbrian businesses.

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Any local companies including #NotJustLakes in their tweets are guaranteed a retweet, and within the first 72 hours the new account raced past 1,000 followers and is climbing fast, says outdoor writer Beth Pipe.

The five hope to spread the message that the floods have gone, business are open and roads are, with a few exceptions, passable. Their aim is to encourage visitors and to dissuade people from cancelling their plans to visit Cumbria.