This gives a whole new meaning to social drinking.

Just in time for the South by Southwest (SXSW) music, film and interactive conference in Austin, Texas, you can now send someone a beer through Twitter.

A new online app, Tweet-a-beer.com, has arrived with the hope of extending happy hour to the digital world that never sleeps.

Powered by Chirpify, another new technology that enables e-commerce through social media, Tweet-a-Beer requires both the sender and recipient to be on Twitter and have a PayPal account.

Of course, since there is no technology as yet that allows one to teleport actual frosty mugs containing actual liquids, what you’re really doing is depositing $5 into the recipient’s PayPal account along with the imbibing suggestion.

So it’s the thought that counts.

Tweet-a-Beer may sound like gimmicky marketing, but what it also points to is the rising importance of SXSW to interactive companies, especially startups.

Companies that are now household names – including Twitter and Foursquare – all had breakthrough moments at the festival in previous years.

The Tweet-a-Beer app, a joint venture between Oregon’s tenfouragency.com and waggeneredstrom.com, was developed in six weeks to ensure a rollout at SXSW this week. SXSW runs until March 18.