Meetups

PeaceBang, in one of her most recent posts, blogged about Meetup groups. I originally thought she was talking about meeting up with those who read her blog, until I read the opening paragraph:

"Have any of you ever attended a MeetUp? I’m a big believer in social networking as a positive way to create instant community, so I try to attend them a few times a year at least. I like the democratic nature of these things: loosely organized, open to anyone, very reliant on people’s flexibility and good will."

That's when I learned she wasn't talking about groupies. Briefly summarized, MeetUps are small social networking groups organized a common interest. You go to their website, type in your zip code, and select your mileage radius. In other words, do you want groups within 25 miles or less of your home, or 50?

I typed in my zip code, and there were almost 300 MeetUps within a 25 mile radius of where I live. There are groups of all sorts of interests, from cooking to hiking to needlework. There are singles groups, cancer support groups, groups for vegetarians--you name it, there's probably a MeetUp for it. And if there isn't, MeetUp encourages you to form your own. There is a fee for organizing a website for your MeetUp, but what some groups do is that they charge a very small fee--a dollar usually--for each meeting.

I signed up for several MeetUps. I joined a French group, a Spanish group, and an Italian group. I also joined one for thirty-somethings like me, because, while I have a lot of friends, I don't have many who are close to my own age. (Most of my friends are older than I am).

With all sorts of social networking going on in this day and age, there's really no excuse for someone not to have a social life.