Web 2.0 and Beer
Posted by Tom Humbarger on August 13, 2008
Beer
Which beer brand is the most Web 2.0?
This thought came to me last night while reviewing traffic on my Twitter account and noticing a lot of tweets around Pabst Blue Ribbon or PBR as it is more affectionately known by “beer bon vivants”. I’m from the Midwest and have downed a few PBRs in my time – but PBR is my Dad’s beer and I don’t understand the fascination with it when there are so many better microbrews out there to taste.
So, I decided to a little research on which beer brand is the most Web 2.0.
Based on a review on Facebook, one of the more popular sports appears to be Beer Pong and there are a multitude of groups devoted to this ‘sport’ (which harkens back to Facebook’s collegiate roots).
When it comes to beer brands, here are my Facebook findings:
- Heineken – 43,178 fans
- Corona – 37,615 fans
- Guinness – 34,039 members
- Coors Light – 26,118 fans
- Save Budweiser – 4,384 members who wanted to save Budweiser from InBev
- Budweiser Fan Page – 4,068 fans
- Belgian Beer - 3,171 fans
- F**k Budweiser, It’s Miller Time – 2,447 members
- PBR Appreciation Club – 2,169 members
- Yeungling – 2,053 fans
- Samuel Adams – 2,019 fans
- Leinenkugel – 1,847 members (full disclosure – I’m a member of this club because I used to live in Minnesota and loved drinking Leinies)
- Newcastle Brown – 1,264 members
- Sierra Nevada – 876 fans
And then I examined Twitter comments and for my test, I just counted the number of tweets in the last 24 hours. I know this isn’t very scientific, but it’s my study:
- Beer (in general)- 1,230
- Wine – 930 (as a control group)
- PBR - 75
- Guinness - 62
- Corona – 32
- Budweiser – 20
- Sam Adams – 19
- Heineken – 14
If you’re into homebrewing, Dave Smith (the @BeerSmith on Twitter) wrote a blog post recently which identifies a number of Home Brewing Social Sites. And if you’re really into beer and community, there’s always the US Beer Drinking Team website which is dedicated to the sisterhood and brotherhood of beer drinking while promoting responsible drinking.
So, who’s the winner? For now, I’d have to give the nod to the Guinness who gets the bronze medal on Facebook and the silver medal on Twitter. PBR is interesting in that it is a relatively small brand but won the gold medal in the Twitter rankings (mostly due to Twitterholic @jstorerj).
So what does this all mean for Web 2.0 and beer companies? Does Joe Sixpack (who buys all of the Budweiser, Miller and Busch) not spend any time on Facebook or Twitter? Are most beer companies behind the social media curve?
I think I need to drink some more beer and do some more research. Anybody care to join me?
Jim Storer said
Nice post Tom. PBR certainly got a huge lift on Twitter from the meme (started by @93octane) last night. If you broadened your timeframe, i’m sure some of the larger brands would come in stronger.
It’s surprising to me that beer companies aren’t more web 2.0 though. It seems like they could really build a powerful “street team” by listening to the conversations and catalyzing the appropriate people. It would be relatively easy to monitor most of these brands and begin having conversations with folks that give you a mention (positive and/or negative).
Jim | @jstorerj
Scott said
You’re spot-on. I think more and more companies (brewers or otherwise) will start using Social Media to get a better feel of what the “word on the street’ is, and to be able to quickly adapt to new demands in the market.
BenMarvin said
#PBR08
How Are You Building Your Personal Brand? « Musings by Tom Humbarger said
[...] have to be outlandish, but you do need to use some creativity to get some attention like my Web 2.0 and Beer blog post which has garnered the highest number of views for my [...]
Thomas said
A bit later but you know which beer company does get it Flying Dog and alot of the craft beer companies are not far behind at all.