What is WineTwits and how does it work?

WineTwits brings together a community of wine enthusiasts to talk about wine.

Who’s behind it?

WineTwits is a property of Drink Twits, LLC, founded by Stephen Gilberg.

Steve has been in the wine and spirits industry for over 15 years and develops web-based applications for retailers and brands. His extensive experience with e-marketing, social media and Twitter led him to launch WineTwits – a Twitter-powered community for consumers, distributors, wineries and experts to connect around wine.

How do I register?

To register, click the ' register ' link at the top of the page. You'll be asked to enter a username, password and email address. The screen name you enter does not need to match your Twitter screen name.

Do I need a Twitter account to register on WineTwits?

You do not need a Twitter account to register on WineTwits, although it is recommended. WineTwits uses Twitter as a communication platform for users to share their experiences, recommendations, promotions, and expertise on wines, food pairings and the like. Having a Twitter account associated with your WineTwits account will let you better participate in the conversation and will enrich your WineTwits experience. To get a Twitter account, click here

How do I post a message on WineTwits?

You can post a message on WineTwits under the ' Discussion ' section by clicking 'New Post.' Here, you can enter a new wine-related topic. If your post exceeds 140 characters, you'll be notified,although there is no restriction on how long a post can be on WineTwits. While your post will appear both on WineTwits and Twitter, posts longer than 140 characters will be truncated when sent to Twitter but will include a link back to the full text of the post on WineTwits.

You can also post messages to WineTwits through Twitter by addressing them to @winetwits. WineTwits retrieves and parses these messages regularly.

Will my posts and replies made on WineTwits appear on Twitter?

If you authorized your Twitter account when you registered on WineTwits, then your new posts and replies will appear on Twitter. Having new posts and replies made from WineTwits appear on Twitter will tie the conversation back to Twitter and allow a larger audience to participate and respond to messages.

What is the star icon I see next to discussions, events and users?

Click the star to bookmark a discussion topic, event or user. You can then toggle a filter to show only your bookmarks in each section of WineTwits. The star bookmark system helps you keep track of resources on WineTwits that you like.

How do I filter my Favorites?

You can bookmark discussion topics, events and users on WineTwits. To see items that you've previously bookmarked in a given section, click the "show bookmarks only" link at the top. This link will toggle the display of “all” items in a given section, or just your bookmarks.

If I see an off-color post on WineTwits, what can I do about it?

You can flag messages that you find offensive and they will be removed from your view. To flag a message, mouse-over the message and look for the flag link. Click “flag” and the message will disappear from your stream.

WineTwits has a number promotional areas on the site that allow you or your brand to stand out. You may purchase space in any of these areas on a first come, first served basis using our online reservation engine which accepts all major credit cards. All featured advertising is sold in advance, on a month to month basis. We rotate featured advertisements on the home page of WineTwits.com based upon their respective featured section (e.g. Featured Users, Events, Specials).

What are some of the other promotional opportunities on WineTwits?

In addition to the self serve featured advertising that we offer to you and your brand we’re also open to allowing our community members to work with us to develop innovative solutions that uniquely fit their needs. This could include a deep penetrating retweeting campaign which would directly reach the twitter accounts of more than 37,500 WineTwits or a sponsored tasting event featuring your wine or food products.