More using Meetup site to leave the Web behind

Portlanders flock to social networking site to build real community

By Monica Rodríguez
The Portland Upside
May 2009

A Meetup hiking group takes to the trails. (Photo by Melissa Bosserman)

Meeting friends in elementary school wasn’t so hard, right? “Can I borrow your crayon?” “Wanna be best friends?” The two questions seemed to go hand in hand.

But as we get older, it often gets a little harder to make and keep friends. Blame it on best friends moving to Wichita or college buddies holding onto cool jobs teaching English in Japan. Sooner or later, most of us find ourselves a little hard pressed to find companions for knitting snazzy sweater sets or sharing a beer during happy hour.

Thanks to the Internet, it’s not so hard to keep in touch with Midwestern friends and old classmates lost in translation. Unfortunately, though, your grandma is right: this text-messaging, online-chatting, voice-mailing culture of ours seems to leave many of us feeling disconnected and even a little lonely.

Luckily, the staff at Meetup (www.meetup.com) is doing their best to undo the wear and tear of modern living. Founded in 2002, the New York based company is a spin on other online approaches to meeting and greeting. It’s objective is simple: “To revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize.” Meetup wants people to meet face to face, not just in a chat room, and it provides the tools to help us all do just that.

Jackie Swift, organizer for Young Portland Women Meeting for Friendship, attests that Meetup meets its mission. “My favorite thing about Meetup is how the Internet is able to connect people and help them form real-life and in-person friendships. People that would otherwise have never met meet over a shared passion or at least a good meal,” Jackie says.

How it works

Meetup works because it is so darn simple. At meetup.com you can look for groups based on location and interest. Are you into Dungeons and Dragons? Awesome! Do you have a basset hound and want to find a dog walking compadre? Cool! Just create a quick profile and join the group. Some groups charge small fees to cover the nominal subscription fees charged to Meetup organizers, but most are free.

After that, you can pretty much just sit and wait. Meetup is smart enough to email you when your groups organize new events. It’s even nice enough to remind you a day or two before an event takes place, so you’re sure not to miss one. And don’t worry. Members self-select all preferences, so you won’t get stuck receiving a hundred emails a day, if you don’t want them.
Okay, so Meetup is smart, but it isn’t psychic. When planning events, organizers must be savvy enough to request Meetup to send emails and reminders to group members. Mostly, organizers are really good about doing that. Otherwise, it helps to check your group’s page regularly, especially while the organizers work the kinks out of running a new group.

A group for every interest

There are over 600 Meetup groups in the Portland area, and more are likely to form.
The Portland Metro Urban Hikers group is one of them. Scott Haas, a former Seattleite who’s been here for over a decade, started the group last fall. He wanted to plan local low-cost hikes to explore the bountiful natural landscapes in and close to Portland.

“There are many other hiking groups,” Scott says, “but the hikes are mostly out of town and require a full day’s commitment. I like those kinds of hikes, too, but when fuel hit $4 per gallon, it started to become cost prohibitive to go out of town every weekend. So I thought, ‘Why not find local hikes that are eco and transit-friendly, that would only take a few hours out of the day, but still give an opportunity to explore?’”

His reasoning hit the mark. The group already boasts 700 members and usually meets once a week on the weekends. Some hikes have attracted as many as sixty members, while others - the ones on the colder, wetter days - only number in the single digits. But all have been fun.

Jack Huttig organizes The Flying Spaghetti Monster Lands for a Pint, a local community for atheists. He joined Meetup over a year ago after moving to Portland from the Midwest.

After a slow start, he began planning events for his Meetup. Now that the group’s main organizer is taking a break to plan her wedding, he’s stepping in full-time to help keep the group alive.

“I’ve been fortunate that Flying Spaghetti Monster has a core group of people with a list of definite things they like. That means they’re quick to share ideas, recommend places, and even offer their homes for parties,” Jack says. “I’ve met some very nice people,” he adds. “To tell the truth, the Meetups are the highlight of my week when they’re held. It’s a group of people I feel I can trust, which is the first prerequisite to friendship.”

Young Portland Women Meeting for Friendship has also had its fair share of success with 400+ members. The group targets women in their twenties and thirties and aims to have about one gathering per week to give its members a chance to attend regularly.

Jackie Swift, the group’s current head organizer, found out about Meetup a little over a year ago and doesn’t regret becoming involved.

“When I moved back to Portland after having been away for a while, I didn’t have very many friends in town anymore. I researched social opportunities in Portland and found Meetup. I was looking for a new social network, and I certainly found it! It’s been a very rewarding experience and a lot of fun. I’ve met hundreds of interesting women, many of whom are new to Portland.

It’s a wonderful opportunity to be able to help them settle into a new city.”

Nina Knapp agrees that the chance for forming friendships is one of the main appeals and main successes of Meetup. A member of several groups, including Jackie’s women’s group, Scott’s hiking group, a yoga group, and a vegans and vegetarians group, Nina feels that she’s found a good outlet for making connections with others.

“I have met some great people I otherwise would not have met,” Nina says.

Meetup is an invaluable resource for finding support, too. There are countless parenting, networking, exercise, and other support groups in the Portland metro area that succeed at helping people find others with whom to share difficult times.

And if nothing on Meetup strikes your fancy, you can always form a group of your own. While there are costs involved in being a group organizer, Meetup staff offer suggestions for how to help make them manageable.

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To find out more about Meetup, visit their website at www.meetup.com

Monica Rodríguez is a full-time editor, part-time writer, and occasional square dancer. She loves all things Portland, including living in Sellwood, eating pastries at Grand Central Bakery, and buying used books at Powell’s.