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ocial networking and food — now Twitter, don’t sound so bad.

Enter Aur’s Cakery, a Jakarta-based bakery venture owned by aspiring baker Aurora Kalista. Despite the bakery lacking a storefront and any signage normally associated with a traditional bakery, Aur’s Cakery obtains its customer base mainly through its active presence across various social networking platforms, including Twitter and Facebook.

Through the two platforms, the bakery’s customers and potential customers can browse through numerous photos of cakes, receive updates on new products and even communicate with Kalista about their orders.

Eighteen-year-old Kalista first registered Aur’s Cakery’s Twitter account in October 2011 after consulting fellow baker friends. Seven months later, her bakery’s Twitter account has more than 4,200 followers. “The bakery’s presence on the social network has helped me reach out to a much wider audience that would otherwise be unattainable. Before Twitter, [my customers] were limited to friends of friends in Jakarta. Now, I have customers from around Jabotabek. Most of them found my bakery through Twitter or Facebook,” said Kalista.

Customers do not stay put once they find Aur’s Cakery Twitter or Facebook page. They utilize the social networks to facilitate their communication with Kalista herself. Kalista said she typically interacts with her customers at least four to five times a day. “My customers do not only ask questions about my products or ordering but also post photos of their received orders and provide feedback on my products.”

Kalista added, “I have now allotted a separate BlackBerry device for Aur’s Cakery to enhance my customer outreach through social networks.”

It is no secret that Indonesians make up a large proportion of Twitter’s total users. Since the social network’s inception in March 2006, Twitter’s Indonesian users have steadily increased over the years. Thanks to the substantial BlackBerry, iPhone, Android and other smartphone usage in the nation, Twitter’s Indonesian users can easily send and receive information for both business and leisure purposes.

Aur’s Cakery is not the only Jakarta-based small food business that has expanded into social network platforms. Nuria’s Deli, a recently established Japanese and dessert eatery in Tebet owned by University of Indonesia graduate Nuria Said, humbly began as Nuria’s Kitchen, an online-based small bakery.

Said’s initial intention was to develop a small online-based bakery catering to French patisserie connoisseurs. However, over time Said’s customer base grew and so did her market response, and so the 25-year-old decided to open up her own restaurant. She now has four employees to help her with her bakery and restaurant — opting to do most of the baking and cooking herself.

“I started out as a one person company and through hard work and extensive marketing via social media, [my customer base] grew from only close relatives and friends to nationwide.”

Said added, “[Now] customers of Nuria’s Kitchen spread from Surabaya to Jakarta, Kalimantan to Sulawesi. Marketing is mostly done through Twitter and web-blogging.”

Like Kalista, Said considers social network platforms an effective way to efficiently respond to customers’ orders. She believes that social networks enable her to continuously improve her products as the platforms help her to get speedy feedback from customers.

“Although every coin has two sides, negative comments [on the platforms] may generate negative responses from new customers, but I think if it’s constructive criticism. What doesn’t kill us will only make us a stronger brand,” Said said.

The intermingling of the food business and social networking benefits not only customers but also businesses.

Actress Olla Ramlan for example, frequently employs social networking sites to order and provide feedback to local food businesses.

Olla said, “Technology allows food businesses to be much more efficient than they were in the past ... The quality of ordered food itself is more superior than ready-made food because it is fresh.”

Observing the ever-increasing usage of technology for various purposes, Ramlan also recommends that more local businesses enter the Web to market and promote their products.

In today’s rapidly changing media landscape, social networks are relatively inexpensive and are a very accessible platform that any business can use to combine marketing with communicating to their target market.

With more than 200 million accounts on Twitter and over 500 million on Facebook, social networking platforms have all the possibilities to enhance a business’ online exposure with building social channels that maximize a business’ presence, generate patronage and increase profits.

Have an idea to begin your own business? Start now. Start expanding into social networking. Reach your customer base. Establish a more personal relationship with your customers. With technology, all of this is possible.