Attention coffee house owners: Here are the 5 social networks I believe you should join, or at the very least observe.

#1: Twitter

Twitter is huge. Your customers are likely talking about you on Twitter and wish you were on Twitter. Millions of people are chatting about everything on Twitter. Try searching for the name of a coffee shop on their search site.

#2: Yelp

Yelp is fast becoming the #1 place for people to write their own reviews of restaurants, businesses, and also coffee shops. Guaranteed your favorite coffee shop is listed and probably reviewed.

#3: Flickr

Flickr is one of the oldest and most popular photo sharing sites on the Internet. I personally upload a bunch of photos of Arizona coffee houses.

#4: Facebook

Every coffee house should have a Fan Page on Facebook where people can become a fan.

#5: Brightkite

Brightkite isn’t as popular, but lots of people are “checking in” at coffee shops and posting photos from their cell phones.

What social networks have I missed? Are you already connected? Share a link to your profile in the comments.

Arizona Coffee

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8 comments

  1. I never could get into Twitter. Tried it several times and just don’t get it, I guess.

  2. It could be that Victor and I are too old-school, or just too old to get in on this. It could be that Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and their ilk are simply vehicles to make money by selling space to advertisers, and in some cases (check your G-mail TOS) just a sophisticated phishing scam. I’d rather pay for a coffee and the new Avenue than join Twitter to tweet for a free cuppa.

  3. Tom Maegdlin

    You forgot Matt Milletto’s Baristaexchange.com! Great place for cafes and baristas to network. If you join don’t forget to join the Arizona Barista Network group.

  4. I think this is a good list. Seriously, it should be printed out on a flyer and dropped off at all coffee shops.

  5. I’m not into Facebook, but I hear there are a handful of people that use it…

    What do you think of Foursquare as an alternative to Brightkite? TechCrunch recently had an article about how Foursquare could benefit businesses: http://is.gd/1Dwqo

  6. Curtis,

    I’ve been using Foursquare, as you know, but it needs time before it hits mainstream. But then again, if a shop were go give the Mayor a free drink every time, and made it a contest, I could handle that!!

  7. Tom,

    Baristaexchange.com is definitely one I missed (I kind of figured someone would mention it, actually). Thanks for pointing it out.

  8. Yeah, I just got into the AZ Barista Group on BX. Something tells me that the inter-city espresso throw down is gonna get interesting.
    Tom, Chris, y’all chat about that and start hypin’ it.
    I’ll go try to pour another swan, instead of a chicken or a budgie.