"SocialNetworking" news and stories

Social networking is helping local food growers and processors find ways to sell their wares to local food service businesses in the Pacific Northwest.

FoodHub, an interactive online tool launched in February by Portland-Ore.-based nonprofit Ecotrust, helps growers and food professionals find each other, The Oregonian reported.

With a revamped site set to launch in a few weeks, Ecotrust VP of food and farms Deborah Kane talked to the newspaper about FoodHub and how it works.

Whether you grow it, sell it or drink it, coffee is now more than just a hobby or your favorite drink - it's also your ticket to new friends, new information and a serious gateway to procrastination.

I'm referring to Barista Exchange and Barista Connection, two new additions to the sorta-recent explosion of social networking sites. But unlike Facebook and MySpace, these two cater to a specific audience, and the content revolves around everything java.

On Barista Exchange, you create a profile (first, define yourself by any number of coffee-related personas, including a barista, a farmer, or simply an enthusiast), and then gain access to thousands of similar-minded peeps. The name of the site describes one of its primary features: members can use their connections to facilitate an actual coffee exchange, which consists of baristas changing places for a week or so to experience the coffee culture in each others' city.