Internet-based communication platforms that make use of networks modeled on social interactions. Social media utilize Web-based publishing platforms to disseminate text, video, images, and other digital media between users. Social media are user-generated, decentralized, and almost always free. Popular examples of social media in 2010 included blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, 4Square, Flickr, YouTube, Second Life, and Digg, with others certain to follow.

Craft breweries in the United States have been the most enthusiastic adopters of social media in the brewing world. As of 2010, over half of the 1,500 breweries in the United States had Facebook pages, with slightly less than half using Twitter. Social media have thrived with craft breweries primarily because of the low cost and direct connection to supporters, crucial attributes in an industry focused on affordable marketing, and the authenticity of its personalities.

Twitter has played an increasingly prominent role in American craft brewing, with many small breweries using it to spread information about special releases and to promote event ticket sales to fans.

Twitter and Facebook have also played important roles in grassroots public relations campaigns, such as Vermont-based Rock Art Brewery’s successful response to a cease-and-desist letter from soft drink maker Hansen’s.

Social media are also used by the world’s largest breweries. Facebook pages for brands such as Heineken, Bud Light, Guinness, Coors Light, and Miller Lite have hundreds of thousands of connections to users. That said, large breweries have not embraced Twitter as enthusiastically as their craft counterparts.

Large breweries often use social media to promote contests, giveaways, sponsored events, and other forms of paid marketing. The use of social media as an avenue to amplify paid marketing differs from the strategy of craft brewers, who often have little or no paid marketing to amplify. Craft breweries most commonly use social media to converse directly with supporters and provide images, information, and video from within their respective breweries, with the content usually generated by the brewers themselves. Large brewers rarely provide such personal low-key content, preferring instead to redirect supporters to specially designed Websites, professionally produced videos, and similar content often generated by public relations firms.

Message boards and blogs maintained by craft beer aficionados have played an influential role in the development of craft beer culture. Although typically frequented by a specialized audience, message boards and blogs have built international awareness of small craft breweries and their offerings. Sites like BeerAdvocate.com and Ratebeer.com receive millions of visits per month and host databases containing tens of thousands of beers, which users rate and review. Beer blogs have likewise proliferated, usually offering short-form commentary from beer journalists (both self-styled and professional) and aficionados. Brewers have also made widespread use of blogs to communicate with supporters and build awareness of their breweries and personalities.