Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Meet Market

By Josie Roberts
Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Pittsburgh vegetarian society treasurer, Norman McKinley, of Baldwin, takes a seat at a recent Meetup.com gathering in Shadyside.

Stacie Teeters needed to talk to someone about her pug's inverted snort. When the 27-year-old Ingram resident searched the Web, she found more than answers. She found a clan of pug lovers.

Teeters stumbled on Meetup.com, a Web site that acts as a community bulletin board, where people with niche interests can connect in their neighborhood. Each month, dozens of pug owners "meetup" at Frick Park to watch their pets wrestle, talk about dog food and commiserate about house breaking issues.

"My pug slept not only on the ride home, but three days following," Teeters said of the hourlong meetup.

Meetup.com catapulted into the spotlight during Howard Dean's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination last year. Volunteers would spread the word over the Internet about times to plant signs, pass out bumper stickers and discuss strategy together, independent of the formal political machine.

"We helped put Howard Dean on the map, and he, in turn, put us on the map," said Myles Weissleder, the vice president of communications for Meetup.com.

The Web site did not start as a political tool, Weissleder said, but its members saw the potential for use on campaigns.

The site does not endorse a particular party or religion. Under the Meetup Bill of Rights, it posts "The Right to Meet About Most Anything." (There are a few exceptions for hate and adult-related topics.)

The fastest-growing groups have been stay-at-home mom groups, language conversation groups ranging from Spanish to Navajo, and dog get-togethers where pug lovers and Chihuahua owners introduce their pets at the park. Rock 'n' roll fan groups were the first to fail.

A meetup group for the bubble gum pop band of brothers Hanson still exists. There's a teen vampires meetup, which posts the clause "no posers allowed." A "big, beautiful women dealing with skinny society" meetup. Body modification, Elvis aficionados -- you name it.

And perhaps one of the most unlikely groups would be the Pittsburgh Anarchy group that had planned a meeting (huh?) for earlier this week. However, no one had RSVP'd to attend the gathering at a South Side bar, and most of the members appeared to be inactive.

As sexy or surreal as some of the groups sound, it's the mainstream topics that create a true following with dedicated members and sustain the monthly meetups.

Almost two weeks before the Pittsburgh pug meetup in March, 31 members had sent in a "yes" RSVP. On the other end of the spectrum, the teen vampires and dumpster divers meetups had to be cancelled because the groups lack an organizer.

Teeters stepped up when the pug meetup needed an organizer and said the change has made the group much more active. Members are able to e-mail her with questions (could we meet on a Sunday instead of Saturday? Could we meet at an indoor facility?) and she contacts inactive members to try to bring them back in.

Some groups, even with broad topics like travel and photography, still have a hard time sustaining interest.

It's an almost universal experience that members find Meetup.com through an Internet search engine while looking up a specific topic. Two years after its launch in 2002, it garnered 1 million members without any advertising; it's now has double that number.

"It's been a grass-roots phenomenon from Day One," Weissleder said.

Leona Dunnett of Murrysville did an online search for "Pittsburgh Pagan parenting" and Meetup.com popped up near the top of the list. So far, she has received one e-mail from the group organizer welcoming her and asking her to fill out a profile, but she has not attended a meeting yet.

"I'm hoping to meet other like-minded parents who want to raise their children in an open-minded liberal religion," Dunnett said.

She heard from friends that the Pagan meetup had gone defunct, but she hopes to revive it. She thinks the Internet offers a unique way for people with niche interests to find each other and share information.

"It makes us all feel very interconnected," Dunnett said. "It's very neat to be connected to people you never even knew existed. In the last five years, the Internet has opened up a huge opportunity to meet kindred spirits -- or just to answer questions."

Sampling of upcoming Meetups:

WHAT: Pug Meetup

WHEN: 1 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: PETCO, 4801 McKnight Road, North Hills

DETAILS: In-store fashion show to debut the spring pet collection. Four-legged models needed. Call store manager at (412) 366-1866.

WHAT: Vegan Society Meetup

WHEN: 2 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Maggie's Mercantile, 320 Atwood St., Oakland

WHAT: Knitting Meetup

WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: Tom's Diner, 1715 E. Carson St., South Side

WHAT: Harry Potter Meetup

WHEN: 6 p.m. Monday

WHERE: Barnes and Noble Booksellers, 100 Quinn Drive, Robinson Town Center

WHAT: Spanish Language Meetup

WHEN: 7 p.m. April 18

WHERE: Tango Cafe, 5806 Forward Ave., Squirrel Hill

WHAT: Horror Movies Meetup

WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Starbucks, 973 Greentree Road, Green Tree

DETAILS: Sign up on meetup.com to join online discussion boards and meet other members.

By the numbers

47.2 - average age of a Meetup member

50 - percent of Meetup members are married

3,000 - new Meetup groups created each month

1 million - users signed up without any advertising

57.4 - percent of Meetup members are female

100,000 - Meetups have occurred to date

13 - people show up at each Meetup, on average

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