#Nom: Foodies and Social Media

Social media and food.

This combination may evoke images of poorly Instagrammed cupcakes or worse, people live-tweeting what they?re eating for lunch.

Beyond these trivial examples, social media really has had a profound impact on the way foodies share their experiences with their networks. Blogs like Serious Eats?and 101 Cookbooks?provide a forum for social media-savvy chefs to share recipes, favorite restaurants, and food photography with the world.

A Social Network for Foodies?

Foodie is an aptly-named social network aimed at chefs, bakers, and food lovers. The site was launched in February 2012 by Glam Media,?the self-proclaimed ?pioneer of vertical media.? While Foodie is currently in beta, users can create personal profiles by linking their Twitter or Facebook accounts to the site and identifying their food-related interests, such as baking, entertaining, healthy eating, etc. Foodie then automatically generates a list of bloggers and chefs for users to follow.

The site incorporates content and advertisement curation, and features a panel of Foodie Ambassadors, comprised of well-known food critics and chefs. Additionally, brands like Betty Crocker and Dannon Activia have jumped on board to roll out branded campaigns featuring recipes and tips.

Foodie also has plans to develop a social ranking system that provides restaurant ratings based on crowdsourced input and ratings from professionals.

Foodie is still relatively new and is targeting a niche audience, but it will be interesting to see how its user base grows in the coming months, as well as how they respond to its major features, such as the branded content campaigns and ranking system.

Pins: They?re What?s for Dinner?

Pinterest has developed a strong following among foodies, with an abundance of photos of delectable meals and ?why didn?t I think of that?!? recipes. A quick scan through the ?Food & Drink? category can make a foodie out of anyone!

Brands like Cooking Light are taking advantage of Pinterest by recipe boards organized by holiday, season, meal time, and more. Each pin links back to Cooking Light?s site.

Food bloggers are also leveraging Pinterest as a way to build their personal brands and drive traffic to their websites. Small Kitchen College, a popular recipe blog for college students, organizes many of its boards by ingredient or type of project (birthday celebrations, bake sales, etc.) and has amassed nearly 30,000 followers.

The Internet: The New Cookbook?

According to the folks behind I Wanna Nom!, a bookmark-based index of recipes from around the web. Users can ?circle? and track their favorite recipes, and rate and comment about them once they?ve made one themselves. Additionally, users can search by ingredient and share recipes with others.

It will be interesting to see if I Wanna Nom! is successful in fostering discussions about specific recipes and cooking in general, and if it can build a community around users? cooking experiences and modifications to recipes.

Do you use social media to find or share recipes? Has the Internet turned you into a foodie? Comment and share your experience!

Chelsea Orcutt

Chelsea is a senior studying public relations and political science in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and College of Arts and Sciences. She is interested in social media, graphic design and non-profits. Chelsea is the founder and president of She's the First*{Syracuse}, the SU campus branch of She's the First, a non-profit devoted to educating girls worldwide. Connect with her on Twitter: @ChelseaOrcutt.

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