Meetup is a really solid service. I've used it for many years now, and increasingly so. The activities/in-person focus makes it a much stronger and stickier soc

Meetup is a really solid service. I've used it for many years now, and increasingly so. The activities/in-person focus makes it a much stronger and stickier social network than most. Also, there's a critical-mass issue that explains why it's built up gradually. Lots of Meetup groups are purely "hookups" or "networking," but the really good ones tend to exist as long tail niches.