{"id":11605,"date":"2022-07-18T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-18T19:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/?p=11605"},"modified":"2023-09-22T16:25:26","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T20:25:26","slug":"the-story-of-meetup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/the-story-of-meetup\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of Meetup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Welcome to Meetup! You are now part of a global network that\u2019s 55 million people strong. I am so glad you\u2019re here.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team at Meetup has been building community for a while now. 20 years ago, Meetup founder Scott Heiferman was living downtown in New York City. After the tragic events on September 11, 2001 occurred he and his neighbors came together to meet each other for the first time, unite, and offer support. Scott realized that there had to be a way to connect neighbors with one another outside of a tragedy. The idea for Meetup was born.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The concept was simple: by using the internet, people could log off the internet and connect in real life. Now, two decades later, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/the-next-chapter-of-meetup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Meetup exists<\/a> in more than 190 countries. The platform hosts thousands of online and in-person events each day to connect people and foster community.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since I joined Meetup in 2018 as CEO, I\u2019ve learned that powerful things happen when people get together to pursue common interests. They find support, learn, grow, and make lasting connections. Though <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/why-young-americans-are-lonely\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">61% of American adults<\/a> report feelings of loneliness and isolation, the <a href=\"https:\/\/impact-ed.sas.upenn.edu\/featured-projects\/meetup-member-study\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">vast majority of people who attend Meetup events<\/a> feel more connected to others, and even feel more confident.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone who joins Meetup makes our community stronger. Whether you\u2019re <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/find\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">attending your first event<\/a>, or even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/lp\/how-to-group-start\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">organizing your own group<\/a>, you make the platform the powerful tool for connection that it is today. <strong>Thank you for joining the movement to bring people together.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yours in community,<br>David Siegel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-excerpt\"><p>Meetup started more than 20 years ago. Get the inside story on how it happened. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":11610,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,57],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Story of Meetup - Meetup Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meetup.com\/blog\/the-story-of-meetup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Story of Meetup - Meetup Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meetup started more than 20 years ago. 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