How an Ancient Beverage Found Fame on Social Media

Its mysterious origin dates back thousands of years. Lore of the fermented dairy drink's seemingly magical health benefits endured through the generations by word-of-mouth. Then, social media raised it to royalty.

Today, a company called Lifeway Foods makes close to $100 million annually selling kefir, a probiotic beverage often compared to yogurt.

"It took 2,000 years to bring this product into the mainstream through word-of-mouth," Lifeway's CEO Julie Smolyansky tells Mashable. "Social just multiplies that so much, so rapidly."

Smolyansky's parents founded the Chicago-based company in 1986. When her father died in 2002, she took over as CEO at just 27 years old. According to Smoly…
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