Dear Meetup Community Members,
As another season comes to a close, my thoughts turn to what has transpired so far in yet another unprecedented year. I’d like to take this opportunity to share an update with you about what has been accomplished, where Meetup is going, and how you can take part in our future.
But first, I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the initiative to complete 20 million good deeds to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11. The generosity of the Meetup community fills me with pride and gratitude. As a native New Yorker, I was humbled to see this historic act of compassion, teamwork, and altruism again in my lifetime.
So far in 2021
After more than a year of limited social interaction, it’s clearer than ever that there is no substitute for genuine human connections. So far this year, 3 million people have joined Meetup as new members. More than 40,000 people stepped up to build community as Meetup group organizers. As people recognize the need for community, they continue to turn to Meetup to find their people.
We’ve noticed some fascinating and promising trends within the platform. For the first time, “friends” was the top-searched term on Meetup. Instead of searching for groups and events based on topics like “volleyball” or “knitting,” people were looking for friendship. This underscores the necessity of our mission. Meetup isn’t just an outlet to pursue passions, it’s a place to connect with other people. Meetup organizers aren’t simply event planners, they are catalysts for community.
Meetup’s goal to bring people together over shared interests remains our north star and a guiding principle for what we do. In the past year, our product team has launched a slew of updates to our website and mobile apps to improve community building, including:
- A new logged-in home experience with a fresh interface and enhanced search functionality
- A starting soon search filter that makes it easy to drop into online events as they occur
- A mobile widget to help members and organizers stay up-to-date on their Meetup events directly from their phones’s home screens
- Several new features for Meetup Pro organizers, including network events, enhanced messaging tools, and more network branding capabilities
- An updated photo tool to help savor the memories
As a community-building platform, we will continue to think creatively about how we can grow the Meetup community and serve our members. We’ve partnered with companies that are known for community building, including Starbucks and 9/11 Day, to share our message of connecting and reaching new people.
Where Meetup is headed
At Meetup, a project is underway to help us adapt to what we’re calling “the new normal” (or, at least, the new normal for now). Our goal with this initiative is to help people continue to gather in ways that foster community while keeping each other safe. Instead of waiting for the world to return to a pre-pandemic mindset when it comes to in-person gatherings, Meetup will be making proactive changes to fit new circumstances.
In the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out changes to Meetup events. Organizers will be able to indicate which COVID-19 safety measures they will be taking at each event, from mask guidelines to vaccine requirements, and be able to indicate whether the event will be held outdoors. Later, we’ll make it possible for members to filter their search results using these criteria to find events that they are most comfortable attending.
Another update we have in the works is a new Meetup organizer app. Using the organizer app, Meetup group leaders will be able to manage their groups, oversee events, and learn best practices wherever they go. You can download a beta version of the app for iOS or Android today.
To help us fund these improvements and continue to invest in making your communities successful without raising our prices, Meetup is exploring additional options. Later this year, we’ll be experimenting with advertising to guests and members on a limited number of Meetup pages. Our aim is to have no negative impact on the most important things our members do, like finding and joining groups and events, in order to directly reinvest in key features for running a community on Meetup. Organizers will continue to have an advertising-free experience.
As part of this initiative, we have been listening carefully to our organizers and we’ll be launching the features which have been top requests for some time, including the ability to add rich text on event pages and integrations with some of the top products they use to run their communities.
How you can stay connected
As Meetup continues to evolve to suit the needs of our organizers and members, I invite you to join us along the way. Stay connected with Meetup by becoming a member of our very own Meetup group, Meetup Live. Each month, Meetup Live hosts town halls and panels with senior members of our team to keep you updated on our plans. You can access recordings of Meetup Live events on the Community Matters blog.
I hope you’ll stay connected with Meetup, whether it’s by reading our blog, attending Meetup Live events, or listening to the Keep Connected podcast. Though it can be difficult to predict what will happen a year from now or even a month from now, I am confident that together we will continue to usher in an era of connection and community that is stronger than ever.
Yours in community,
David Siegel
Meetup CEO
Last modified on September 22, 2023
