Looking For Some Booze? You Must Pass Twitter’s Age-screening To Follow Brands

Want to follow some great alcohol brands on Twitter? You might be in for a mild shock as the micro blogging site has now introduced a multi-step age-screening process, failing which you can’t follow the companies. The revamped feature has been rolled out on Twitter.com (the Web), as well as on iOS and Android devices, Twitter has said in a blog post.

So what all you need to do to get a close look at the alcohol brands and follow their activities? Just go to the brand page you want to ‘follow’ and you will be asked to state your age. Twitter then checks if you have passed the age criteria followed in your country. Once you are through the age-screening, you are free to follow your favourite brands. The company will remember whether your account met the age requirement or not. But it won’t save your date of birth – only the fact that you are legally allowed to drink.

The initiative is expected to deter under-age users. It also means alcohol brands can safely and responsibly grow their of-age network of Twitter followers in a way that’s simpler than before.

To start with, Twitter has partnered with brands like Bud Light, Jim Beam, Knob Creek, Heineken and Bacardi, who are integrating the tool with their overall Twitter ad strategy. For instance, Bud Light is using age-screened Promoted Accounts to reach people who are 21 and older and interested in the NFL during their #whatsyoursuperstition campaign, while Knob Creek is using it to launch its small batch bourbon brand on Twitter.

Earlier, when Twitter users hit the Follow button on a liquor, beer or wine account, they automatically got a direct message on Twitter from the company in question, asking them to go to an age-screening page. If one’s age met the requirement of his/her local drinking law, the user was allowed to follow the brand.

But now, it is Twitter that asks you to provide your age on the social network and then does the legal requirement checks, based on the country where you stay. It shows how social media is striving to become socially responsible – a right move, to say the least.

Image: Twitter