"social networking" 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.

Logos courtesy of Facebook and Twitter

With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, everyone's a critic. Both social-networking sites are littered with "Just ate this -- amazing!" and "Just drank that -- delicious!"

Spreading opinions across the globe is easier than ever nowadays. But those posting bold proclamations in status updates -- such as declaring Heineken "quite possibly the best-tasting beer ever" -- shouldn't be surprised if they draw the (to our minds, hilarious) ire of a raging foodie, as this poor Facebook user did.

Although entering a "best beer" battle with a Heineken in hand may be the culinary equivalent of attempting to slice up a sirloin steak with a plastic knife, social-networking sites certainly do offer up a great new forum to wage culinary warfare. Just be careful what you type: This ain't your grandmother's dinner table.

Nowadays, the whole world could be watching. What if that cute girl from the laundromat Googles you and finds your deepest, bubbliest, Heineken-filled thoughts? We shudder at the notion. Still, the debate is half the fun. What's the one beer you'd go to battle for? Comment if we missed it.

[via Reddit]

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.

While it's not all that nice to be a tease by saying "There's something cool you don't know about, and we're not going to tell you...yet," I couldn't help but bring Curious Fork to our attention.

The website is all of one page. It only has a small form to sign up to be "part of the wildest thing to hit the culinary world." I am quite sure that this is going to be some sort of foray into web 2.0 with a food-focused social network. More than anything though, I love the play on words that's a version of a palindrome, and the anti-mirror imaged logo.

Hurry up Curious Fork. Or Furious Cork. Or whatever you are. We're waiting!

[via: tastespotting]

With the growing popularity of social networking websites, such as MySpace, it is not very surprising to hear that people are looking to extend the concept into other spaces. Unfortunately, "other spaces" all tend to be in the real world, as opposed to the digital one, where people are likely to be interacting and networking already. One new restaurant in Los Angeles thinks that they have come up with a good balance of real and digital interactions - whether it will be a success remains to be seen.

At uWink Bistro, the customers will have computer touch screens at their tables, from which they can order food without the need for a waiter/waitress. Once their order has been placed, they can play games on the screen or challenge other tables to tournaments. Diners will be sitting in the restaurant, physically with other people, but will virtually interact with the others around them.

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