Craft beer is huge on Twitter. You probably noticed on Beer Advocate late last week that they now have a Twitter stream of their own. Real Beer has one, Charlie Papazian just got one, breweries, beer bars and stores got ’em, and a ton of average craft beer drinkers like you and me have them, too. Hell, even Shaq, Starbucks, Stephen Colbert, and Al Gore have accounts. You can follow all of them (and me!).  Here’s the scoop on what it is and how it works…

WHAT IS TWITTER?

First things first, WHAT IS TWITTER? You may have seen in the Denver Post how the first report of a plane that slid off of a runway in Denver came via Twitter. Or you may have read in Forbes Magazine about live on-scene Twitter reports on Mumbai. CNN and tons of other news outlets deliver updates. It is all free, of course.  Twitter goes far beyond news though. People also use it to share interesting links, ask and answer questions, and tell people what they’re up to: drinking a beer (which one?), brewing a beer (what style?), or eating lunch (you having a beer with that?).  It can be self-indulgent yet it can also be another great means to get to know other craft beer drinkers out there that you may someday encounter in your travels.

OK, SO IF I SIGN UP, WHAT DO I POST?

Most people post about what they are doing at that moment. That is perfect if you only plan on following friends but if you want to get to know other drinkers online and have them follow you, realize that people are more likely to do so if you post things worth mentioning. Posting about what beer you are drinking is cool but posting that you just left for Walmart to buy socks doesn’t teach us much about you or anything else. Understand how it works now?

HOW DO I FOLLOW PEOPLE?

I will teach you using my own two accounts 🙂 You do not have to join Twitter to read what people say but you need to if you want to ‘follow’ people which means that you ‘subscribe’ to their updates.  They will then flow through your page automatically (kind of looks like this). Once you sign up, go to my beersage account and click ‘FOLLOW’ under my picture. On that account, you will find updates when I post to the blog, links to beer and non-beer stories, and other occasional ramblings. I will likely follow you back on that account. If you’re following me and I’m not following you, just shoot me a reply or an email and I will follow you. My beerpulse account is a bit different in that it is updates about new beers only. I do not follow people on that account; I only follow breweries, bars, stores, and other blogs that only feature their post updates.

Part 2 will reveal all 40 breweries that you can follow on Twitter!

Watch for it around lunchtime (West Coast) tomorrow!!