Be Social. Drink Beer.

Beer is the ultimate social lubricant. It’s a concept that we’ve been advocating for a good part of a decade now, and one that’s shared by many. When we indulge with moderation and respect, beer allows us to loosen up. This is a good thing, as too many of us go about our daily lives suffocating in our own uptightness, focusing on all things petty, and absolutely oblivious to the wonderful people and moments that surround us. Having that one beer can wipe all of this clean, instantly changing moods and helping to bring people from all walks of life together. Forget politics, religion, and sports—let’s drink beer!

Unfortunately, and thanks in part to the Internet, geeks in general aren’t always the most social of the human race. Many prefer the anonymity that comes with being virtually social under the guise of a screen name, or they are social but don’t play well with large groups of people. However, social networking websites like Meetup, Going, and Yelp are doing a great job of providing tools that encourage small groups of like-minded people to rip themselves from their keyboard and socialize in the flesh by putting the focus on going out and meeting up with friends.

BA Social Groups

Even our very own BeerAdvocate (BA) has seen a lot of success with bridging the gap between the Ethernet and Earth over the past decade, with some events seeing upwards of 400 BAs in attendance. BA also features user profiles, an internal messaging system, calendar, and large topical and regional groups in which users can discuss anything from beer in Texas to homebrewing in New Hampshire. But we’ve decided to take things a step further in order to enhance our online community. BA Social Groups will tie in some of our core functionality and allow smaller groups of regional BAs to connect and gather. We hope to launch the beta version of this winter, which will include some of the following tools:

Create a Group
Say you live in Brooklyn, N.Y. You could create the “Brooklyn Beer Brigade.” You’d essentially be the owner of the group, and with a few easy steps be able to invite your BA Friends to join the group, email other friends to join BA and the group, or approve others who want in. Users will also be able to search for groups based on location and group name.

BA Friends
This will take your existing BA Buddy list, which is essentially just a personal address book, to a whole new level by allowing you to create a public list of friends. Once established you’ll be able to manage your list, approve who gets added, message your list, and urge them to join your BA Social Groups.

Post a BA Gathering
This exists now in simple form, but we’ll be making it easy for BA Social Groups to create and view upcoming events created within the group, as well as letting others know that you plan on going. You’ll also be able to easily track which beer events all of your BA Friends are attending, too.

Event Reminders
Life can be busy, but soon we’ll be able to remind you about upcoming events that you’re interested in so you won’t miss a single pint or conversation. We’re also wrapping up the ability to download your BA events in iCal or RSS formats—for use with Google Calendar, Outlook and other calendar programs.

Regardless, if you sign up on BA or take part in one of our BA Social Groups, our point is: Get out there and meet other beer enthusiasts over some beers! You might just be surprised by who you meet and how much fun you could have.

To check out our current Groups on BA, head on over to: beeradvocate.com/groups

Respect Beer.

If you’re an activist or belong to a group dedicated to achieving a saner attitude toward beer, or if you know of any good causes pertaining to beer, beer drinkers or the beer industry, introduce yourself. You might end up profiled here. [email protected] ■