Meetup (website)

Meetup

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

The company is based in New York City and was co-founded in 2002 by Scott Heiferman and Brendan McGovern. Meetup was designed as a way for organizers to manage the many functions associated with in-person meetings and for individuals to find groups that fit their interests.

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.

The service is free of charge to individuals who log in as members. They have the ability to join different groups as defined by the rules of the individual groups themselves.

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

Organizers can customize the Meetup site by selecting from a variety of templates for the overall appearance of their site. They can also create customized pages within the group's Meetup site. Site group functions include:^[5]

• Schedule meetings and automate notices to members for the same
• The ability to assign different leadership responsibilities and access to the group data
• The ability to accept RSVPs for an event
• The ability to monetize groups, accept and track membership and/or meeting payments through WePay
• Create a file repository for group access
• Post photo libraries of events
• Manage communications between group members
• Post group polls

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 an 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.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8][9]

On July 10, 2015, Meetup announced a new pricing plan update.^[3][4] Smaller Meetups pay a little less and larger Meetups pay a little more.

As of August 2015 the company claimed to have 22.77 million members in 180 countries and 210,240 groups,^[10] although these figures may include inactive members and groups.

See also

Other meeting exchange networks Eventim Meetin Explara Eventbrite openevents References ↑ "Meetup.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2012-08-02.  ↑ Jeffries, Adrianne (January 21, 2011). "The Long and Curious History of Meetup.com". The New York Observer. Retrieved October 11, 2013.  1 2 "Organizer Subscription Pricing - Meetup.com". Retrieved 29 July 2017.  1 2 "Pricing Plan Update". Retrieved 22 July 2015.  ↑ Zenker, Gary (2014). Meetup Leader: How to Run A Successful and Profitable Meetup Group. United States: White Lightning Publishing. ISBN 978-1941028087.  ↑ Celia Sankar, "Meetup CEO talks about doing what you love Archived December 28, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.," November 16, 2011. ↑ 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.  ↑ Social site Meetup hit by DDoS attack, By Matt Smith, 2014-02-28, Business Technology ↑ Brand.com’s Mike Zammuto Discusses Meetup.com Extortion Archived April 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine., by Harvey Greer, 2014-03-05, Dailyglobe.com"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2016-02-21.  ↑ "About". Meetup. Retrieved 2015-07-24.  External links Look up Meetup in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Official website Nathan Kaiser, "Interview with Scott Heiferman," nPost, April 20, 2004.