Meetup (website)

Meetup
Web address meetup.com
Commercial? Yes
Type of site
 Social networking
Registration Required to join a group
Available in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, German
Owner Meetup Inc.
Launched June 12, 2002 (2002-06-12)[1]
Alexa rank
 367 (May 2015)[2]

Meetup is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. Meetup allows members to find and join groups unified by a common interest, such as politics, books, games, movies, health, pets, careers or hobbies. Meetup, Inc. is based in New York City.

Users enter their city or their postal code and tag the topic they want to meet about. The website/app helps them locate a group to arrange a place and time to meet. Topic listings are also available for users who only enter a location.

Meetup receives revenue by charging fees to organizers of groups. Currently US$9.99/month for their basic plan, which includes max. 4 organizers and max. 50 members. The unlimited pricing starts at US$14.99/month.[3][4]

The website and associated app also allow users to contact meetup group members through a messaging platform and comments left on individual event listings. After each event and email is shared that allows users to click "Good to see you" and establish further connection with group members.

History

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the site's co-founder Scott Heiferman publicly stated in 2011 that the manner in which people in New York City came together in the aftermath of that traumatic event inspired him to use the Internet to make it easier for people to connect with strangers in their community.[5]

Launching on June 12, 2002, it quickly became an organizing tool for a variety of common interests including fan groups, outdoor enthusiasts, community activists, support groups, and more.

The Howard Dean campaign incorporated internet-based grassroots organization after learning Meetup members were outpacing traditional organization methods.[6] Having changed the political landscape, it is still being used for political campaigns today.

On February 27 and March 1, 2014, a denial-of-service attack forced Meetup's website offline.[7][8]

On, July 10, 2015, Meetup announced a new pricing plan update.[3][4]

As of August 2015 the company claimed to have 22.77 million members in 180 countries and 210,240 groups,[9] although these figures may include inactive members and groups.

See also

Other meeting exchange networks

References

  1. ↑ Jeffries, Adrianne (January 21, 2011). "The Long and Curious History of Meetup.com". The New York Observer. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Meetup.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2012-08-02.
  3. 1 2 "Organizer Subscription Pricing - Meetup.com". Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Pricing Plan Update". Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Celia Sankar, "Meetup CEO talks about doing what you love," November 16, 2011.
  6. ↑ Sifry, Micah (2011-11-07). "From Howard Dean to the tea party: The power of Meetup.com". CNN. Cable News Network. Retrieved 2015-07-14. The site's founder, Scott Heiferman, had imagined it would be of greatest interest to people with hobbies or a shared passion for a cult movie like 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show.' Little did he know that it would also be adopted by grass-roots activists meeting to strategize how to help the Dean campaign.
  7. ↑ http://business-technology.co.uk/2014/02/social-site-meetup-under-ddos-attack/
  8. ↑ http://dailyglobe.com/61817/brand-coms-mike-zammuto-discusses-meetup-com-extortion/
  9. ↑ "About". Meetup. Retrieved 2015-07-24.

External links

Look up Meetup in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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