Food, beverages and social media: trends and tools for economic research

Social media has emerged as a major pathway for communications around food and beverage and is therefore highly relevant to economists seeking to understand drivers of consumer choice in these markets. We review some of the economic aspects of the modern social media landscape, as well as the literature on how social media has influenced both the demand for food and beverages in the marketplace and food choice in experimental settings. We also review trends in social media usage and provide an overview of some of the tools available to researchers for measuring usage through both surveys and through digital analytics. In general, these are tools that are known to communications researchers who study social media but may not be familiar to economic researchers who study food and beverage markets. We end by noting some of the research on, and policy initiatives regarding, the marketing of such products to minors over social media.