Poughkeepsie Journal

Meetup links on the Web, and off

By Rebecca Imperati
Sunday, May 8, 2005

Meet online and off line. That's the goal of Meetup.com.

While someone could join any Meetup group, anywhere in the world, one thrust of the organization is to help people find a local group they might be interested in joining, rather than just talking with people in a chat room who they may never get to meet.

"We're using the Internet to get off the Internet," said Allyson Leonard, public relations manager for Meetup.com.

More than 2 million people worldwide have signed up for one or more Meetup groups, and more than 100,000 Meetups have occurred.

The most popular education topic is home-schooling, the most popular games topic is poker and the most popular pet topic is pugs.

So how does this work?

To find a group, go to the Web site — www.meetup.com — and search by topic or location. People can find a local group to join or start one of their own, even if a similar group already exists, Leonard said.

There is a monthly fee of $19, which can be split among the members or paid for by the organizer. The Poughkeepsie Area Stay-at-Home Mothers Group splits the cost — $1 a month per member — and uses the surplus for a special event.

For the organizers, they get tools to promote their group, such as search engine placement, which means if someone new to the area is searching the Internet for a town group, the Meetup group will be one of the top results.

The group also gets its own Web page where members can share information about themselves, photos and post questions on the bulletin board. Only members have access to post on the board. And members can e-mail each other.

Meridith Ferber, who started the Stay-at-Home Mothers Group, said the women are careful about how much personal information they post online. They also make sure they meet new members at playdates held in a public area first.

Ferber said the site makes finding others mothers a lot easier than just searching around the community.

"It's been like you moved to a place where you've lived for a long time and you don't have to waste time or energy by walking around knocking on doors," she said. "You instantly have friends."

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