Social Media and Young Adults’ Drinking Cultures: Research Themes, Technological Developments and Key Emerging Concepts

In this chapter, Goodwin and Lyons contend that a series of profound changes are altering young adults’ alcohol consumption practices, drinking cultures and social media use. They argue that the rise of multiple social media platforms and their simultaneous use by young people, combined with social media mobility on smartphones, are creating a more dynamic series of real-time influences on drinking. This more complex social media ecology is important, as it influences alcohol consumption during nights out. In investigating youth drinking cultures and their consequences, researchers must consider sophisticated changes in the informational architectures of social media, online drinking cultures and the role of real-time, geolocative digital alcohol marketing.