Even the power of Twitter couldn’t save Portland from a tie with Asheville

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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When Jamie Floyd, founder of Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, learned that Asheville, N.C., was leading in an online poll for best beer city in America, he knew just what to do: Alert the Twitterati.

Floyd posted a series of updates to Twitter, the popular social networking site, directing more than 500 Ninkasi followers to the poll and urging them to vote for Portland as Beer City USA. (Eugene was not in the running.)

“That poll ends tomorrow at noon so we need everyone to vote now!” he tweeted.

Soon after, the poll numbers started to move. Trailing by eight points, Portland caught up to Asheville, and the two cities wound up sharing the title. For Floyd, the episode was a lesson in the power of Twitter.

“It’s kind of cool,” he said. “In the past few months, our whole Twitter world has exploded.”