Social media stars who shine in Sonoma County

On Tuesday, Tucker Taylor posted a picture of cauliflower to his Instagram page that got more than 450 likes, which is pretty good for cauliflower.

To be fair, it’s Romanesco cauliflower, an uncannily beautiful cruciferous varietal, with a bright-green hue and a fractal pattern to set mathematicians’ hearts aflutter.

But, still. Cauliflower.

In his role as a culinary gardener for some of Wine Country’s biggest names, Taylor (@farmert), has not only become an internet star but an unofficial ambassador for Sonoma County. So, too, have Amy Lieberfarb (@amylieberfarb), a wine and food blogger, and Adam Shindledecker, who goes by Decker (@adamdecker), a photographer who runs a group called Instagramers of the North Bay.

Together, the three have a combined following of more than 150,000 on Instagram and Twitter, the two popular social media networks that daily are used by an estimated 340 million people around the world.

The trio are not the most followed social media users hailing from Sonoma County, a distinction that belongs to celebrity chef Guy Fieri, tech pioneer Tim O’Reilly and cellist and activist Zoë Keating, each with more than a?million followers.

What differentiates Taylor, Lieberfarb and Decker is their focus: online conversations about our region with people all over the world, helping form virtual communities revolving around shared passions of food, wine and photography.

They are among about a dozen Sonoma County residents with expansive social media followings that Tim Zahner, the chief marketing officer for Sonoma County Tourism, considers social media influencers.

“These posts represent the idea of a place of amazing food and wine and experiences,” Zahner said. “It’s an idealized Sonoma County.”