The Tennessean

Local cyberpal group MySpace now plans to meet up in person

By VIVI HOANG
Staff Writer

Kim West has moved five times in two years. She's tired of moving.

Between work and time constraints, making new friends can be hard. But West started to notice something in the nine months she's been in Nashville: People — virtual strangers, you might say — kept recognizing her from her page on MySpace.com, a popular online community.

There were lots of "MySpacers" like her around, she realized. Why not take this huge online network and make real-life friends from it?

So West, 26, has organized one of the country's first MySpace Meetups, a monthly gathering of MySpace enthusiasts. The first official Nashville MySpace Meetup is 8 p.m. Saturday at Mercy Lounge.

Kim West, pictured with her English bulldog, Merle, has started a Meetup group for local MySpace.com enthusiasts. (MANDY LUNN / STAFF)

"There's people on MySpace I speak to every day that I've never met," West said.

MySpace.com members post photos, share audio clips, keep blogs and build an often substantial network of cyberspace buddies. Thousands of MySpacers call the Midstate home. They are avid about perusing fellow MySpacers' profiles, too — which is how West, a native Chicagoan and local restaurant manager, got noticed around town.

"I get so nosy and I check out all the photographs," says Julia Rix, 28, a New Yorker who moved to Nashville last month. "Just check out my friends, check out my friends' friends."

Rix and her husband, Jano, joined the group in hopes of "meeting some interesting people" as well as to promote her husband's rock group, the Gabe Dixon Band. Plus, Rix is unemployed, and if networking through the MySpace Meetup helps, she says, all the better.

In little over a month, the MySpace Meetup has attracted more than 75 members, making it the largest group of its kind, according to Meetup.com. The plan is to meet the second Saturday of every month. Members range in age from their 20s to their 50s and run the gamut of professions, from tattoo artists to investment bankers.

See for yourself: Just go to the group's Web site to check out their profiles.

David Aguilar, a 26-year-old 3-D animator from Antioch, came here 10 years ago and wants to see if he can find some high school buddies through the group. Mainly, he just wants to meet people.

"I've been working since I got here," Aguilar said, "so I had no friends for a while. So I started looking for people I could hang out with."

What's a MySpace Meetup like? West describes the experience as rather like a first date, only easier. You've often already spotted each other online. You've already got something to talk about.

"When you have something like MySpace and MySpace Meetup," says group member Alan Pfeil, 28, of Brentwood, "you already have something in common."

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How to join, where to go
Want in on the action? Go to http://myspace. meetup.com/36/ to find the Nashville MySpace Meetup's home page. If you don't have an account already with Meetup.com, you'll need to create one to become a member of the Meetup group and RSVP to go to the first gathering. The only real requirements to join are that you're 18 or older, and you have a MySpace.com page. The rest of the rules are common courtesy — don't hate on people; show up if you sign up to go; no lying. There is no fee to join. The group meets the second Saturday of each month at a place chosen by members. The group's inaugural meet-up is 8 p.m. Saturday at Mercy Lounge, 1 Cannery Row, in Nashville. Guests are welcome. The cover charge is $15.
For more information, contact Kim West at 424-6526 or kimisfamous @yahoo.com.