Online cliques that click/Meetup matches people with Interests

By GERI KOEPPEL
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

Democrats and Republicans do it. So do Libertarians.
Not to mention Goths; hippies; ghost trackers; chic crafters; big, beautiful women; and vegetarians. And poker players.
They're all members of groups on Meetup.com, an online service that brings together people with similar interests.

Unlike the stereotypical cyberspace lurkers of the 20th century, these people go online specifically to find people who want to get together in real life. They knit, cook, golf, ride motorcycles and do role-playing. They form support groups and networking groups, moms clubs and fan clubs. Whether you're an atheist or expatriate, a stay-at-home wife or a gay professional, you can find others like you.

"It's a springboard for developing an intentional family," says Victor Hartford of Chandler, Ariz., in between giving card readings to members of the Tarot Talk Meetup group. "It's a much healthier alternative to the bars."

Hartford was at a meeting of various Meetup groups on a recent Saturday afternoon at Sub-Culture Cafe in Tempe, Ariz., which has become a hub for the clubs.

"I just kind of stumbled upon it," Sub-Culture owner Jeff Berlinsky says. "My girlfriend and I were playing a lot of Scrabble, and I came upon this Scrabble Meetup."

There are more than 22,000 Meetup groups worldwide with roughly 3 million members and about 3,500 umbrella interest areas, ranging from alternative health to work and career.

"Our mission is for there to be a Meetup everywhere about almost everything," Meetup.com spokesman Andres Glusman says.

The site makes most of its money by charging organizers a fee to run groups. If organizers want to charge admission to recoup the cost, they can do so, but many do not.

Meetup is "a new way of doing a very old thing," Glusman says.

When Alan Cates of Gilbert, Ariz., first heard about Meetup groups, he thought it was a "lonely-hearts club," he says. But after going to a vegetarian Meetup with a friend, he found it was full of extroverted, fun-loving people. Now, he's a member of so many groups he goes out "just about every day," he says.

And, after getting kicked out of the vegetarian group when they found out he was a "meathead," he started his own dining group, the East Valley Mingle and Munch Bunch, which eats out three times a month.

That's not to say romance - or the potential for romance - is out of the question. Mike Tibbetts joined a singles group, the Phoenix Singles Adventure & Exploration Meetup Group, which goes dancing, indoor rock climbing, to the movies, to the Arizona Science Center and to festivals, to name a few.

"You don't feel like you're all

alone, even though you came by yourself," Tibbetts says.

Parenting groups are one of the most popular topics, Glusman says, and business networking is big. But then there are groups like the Phoenix Tea & Coffee Hour, which has no agenda at all.

"It's a way to get together and socialize," says organizer Steve Savicki of Phoenix.

Loners no more
Many people remain wary of the Internet because of media reports about online meetings that lead to real-life crimes, says Rosanna E. Guadagno, assistant professor in the psychology department at the University of Alabama.

"(People think) if you take a risk and meet someone online, it's going to be some crazy person who's going to kill you," she says. But those instances are rare, she says.

An early study did relate high rates of depression and loneliness to Internet use, she says. But additional research showed those people were already introverted or loner types.

In fact, Guadagno says, the Web allows outgoing folks to be even more sociable. Friends don't always like to do the same things, no matter how hard they're pushed. Anyone who has had to listen to evangelical monologues about someone's yoga class, quilting hobby or stamp collection can identify with that. And in some sprawling cities it can be tough to connect with others who are passionate about pugs or Pilates or punk rock.

"There's all this fear that the Internet cuts us off from people," Guadagno says, "but what it does is, it's a new technology that allows us to find people similar to us, and that's a wonderful thing that doesn't get a lot of media attention."