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I haven't followed Meetup in much detail, but it seems like they lost their way. "Meetup" has become a common noun in many circles tech-related and beyond...i.

by m52go 9y ago

I haven't followed Meetup in much detail, but it seems like they lost their way. "Meetup" has become a common noun in many circles tech-related and beyond...i.e., most people know about meetup.com and what it does. But despite this ubiquity, what happened? I stopped going to meetups a while ago because most just didn't seem worthwhile. A lot of people I know did the same. If this trend persisted across the service, did the company do anything about it? I dunno. My perception of their failure is anecdotal...maybe they're doing better than it seems to me. I just find this outcome sad, especially given how rare ventures like this are--ones that bridge the gap between offline and online.

blueprint 9y ago
I still go to meetups.
hellofunk 9y ago
Your experience is not everyone's experience. Meetups are extremely popular in big cities, I attend a few each month with probably a total 300 attendees among them. In fact, our local meetup has even had high-profile language contributors and members of the ISO speak.
potatolicious 9y ago
I think it's just fundamentally a hard product. Most people aren't motivated enough to organize events with enough regularity and quality for a community to form. In my experience most Meetup groups are pretty dead. That leaves the people who have something to gain - "new in town" groups run by real estate agents, tech meetup groups run by recruiters, etc etc. These communities tend not to develop a long-term following because most people can smell the opportunism from a mile away. The best Meetups tended to be run by professionals - non-profits, museums, etc, who have something to gain but tended to be aligned with the interests of the participants. Those are sadly few and fr between. I liked Meetup for a lot of uses, but you really did have to sift through a lot of cruft. I think their problem isn't really any execution failure, and reflects simply the level of difficulty of community-building.
- donw 9y ago
  Sports- or activity-based meetups tend to be the best of the bunch, as do expat gatherings when you have just relocated to a new country.
- mooreds 9y ago
  I have been a part of a few meetups, and I think that Meetup the application is great when you have an existing community that you want to bring online. If an email list isn't enough (and sometimes it isn't) meetup can be a great way of extending an existing community online. However, if all you're doing is meeting once a month, Meetup is overkill. It may work OK for generating new community and connections, but as the parent said, you need to have some staying power, and that is either going to be related to some kind of revenue (leads, etc) or some really dedicated hosts that will probably burn out in a few years.
- rdnt03 9y ago
  Pretty spot on. As an organizer, you're worried about turnout and interest along with the logistics. My thing is now, just let others do the organizing and show up and leave early if I want to.
pmontra 9y ago
People go to "meetups" even if they are announced and booked on Eventbrite with absolutely no counterpart on meetup.com. It became a word to define an event format. From that point of view they've been pretty successful. How they fare financially, I don't know. The platform is in the middle of a revamp, with parts accessible only through the old interface. The messages subsite always felt like it was engineered with the technological limitations of 10+ years ago and never improved. Not good signs. I have no idea of the impact of the acquisition. WeWork doesn't operate in my country. Luckily I have found a zero cost location for my semi technical meetup. I'll be happy if nothing changes. By the way, there are many technical meetups around me, but there are many more non technical ones (meeting people, yoga, hiking, foreign languages, politics, really anything). A friend on mine told me yesterday he estimated a 90/10 ratio. Not what you can fill coworking spaces with.
nhangen 9y ago
I stopped going to meetups because they felt like glorified networking groups where I never really found any value, solid connections, or a reason to go back. I tried both speaking and attending.
akvadrako 9y ago
Like anything, 90% of them are crap. What's important is to truly interested in a shared activity. In my experience sports, board games and language exchanges work well.
- lostcolony 9y ago
  Yeah, many local game stores operate a meetup as a way to allow gaming groups to form (it's great for D&D), or as a way to advertise, schedule, and organize events, both one offs and routine.

by m52go 9y ago

blueprint 9y ago

I still go to meetups.

hellofunk 9y ago

Your experience is not everyone's experience. Meetups are extremely popular in big cities, I attend a few each month with probably a total 300 attendees among them. In fact, our local meetup has even had high-profile language contributors and members of the ISO speak.

potatolicious 9y ago

I think it's just fundamentally a hard product. Most people aren't motivated enough to organize events with enough regularity and quality for a community to form. In my experience most Meetup groups are pretty dead. That leaves the people who have something to gain - "new in town" groups run by real estate agents, tech meetup groups run by recruiters, etc etc. These communities tend not to develop a long-term following because most people can smell the opportunism from a mile away. The best Meetups tended to be run by professionals - non-profits, museums, etc, who have something to gain but tended to be aligned with the interests of the participants. Those are sadly few and fr between. I liked Meetup for a lot of uses, but you really did have to sift through a lot of cruft. I think their problem isn't really any execution failure, and reflects simply the level of difficulty of community-building.

donw 9y ago
Sports- or activity-based meetups tend to be the best of the bunch, as do expat gatherings when you have just relocated to a new country.
mooreds 9y ago
I have been a part of a few meetups, and I think that Meetup the application is great when you have an existing community that you want to bring online. If an email list isn't enough (and sometimes it isn't) meetup can be a great way of extending an existing community online. However, if all you're doing is meeting once a month, Meetup is overkill. It may work OK for generating new community and connections, but as the parent said, you need to have some staying power, and that is either going to be related to some kind of revenue (leads, etc) or some really dedicated hosts that will probably burn out in a few years.
rdnt03 9y ago
Pretty spot on. As an organizer, you're worried about turnout and interest along with the logistics. My thing is now, just let others do the organizing and show up and leave early if I want to.

pmontra 9y ago

People go to "meetups" even if they are announced and booked on Eventbrite with absolutely no counterpart on meetup.com. It became a word to define an event format. From that point of view they've been pretty successful. How they fare financially, I don't know. The platform is in the middle of a revamp, with parts accessible only through the old interface. The messages subsite always felt like it was engineered with the technological limitations of 10+ years ago and never improved. Not good signs. I have no idea of the impact of the acquisition. WeWork doesn't operate in my country. Luckily I have found a zero cost location for my semi technical meetup. I'll be happy if nothing changes. By the way, there are many technical meetups around me, but there are many more non technical ones (meeting people, yoga, hiking, foreign languages, politics, really anything). A friend on mine told me yesterday he estimated a 90/10 ratio. Not what you can fill coworking spaces with.

nhangen 9y ago

I stopped going to meetups because they felt like glorified networking groups where I never really found any value, solid connections, or a reason to go back. I tried both speaking and attending.

akvadrako 9y ago

Like anything, 90% of them are crap. What's important is to truly interested in a shared activity. In my experience sports, board games and language exchanges work well.

lostcolony 9y ago
Yeah, many local game stores operate a meetup as a way to allow gaming groups to form (it's great for D&D), or as a way to advertise, schedule, and organize events, both one offs and routine.