by Jim Cashel
August 2002

Scott Heiferman is Co-Founder and CEO of MEETUP, an online site which helps people meet others with similar interests.  Some of the most active users of MEETUP to this point are online community members seeking to meet other community members offline.  Prior to MEETUP Scott founded i-traffic, an online ad agency now owned by Omnicom.  We asked Scott about MEETUP and other cool community sites.

What is MEETUP? Where did the idea come from?

MEETUP creates real-world group gatherings about anything anywhere. We've built a technology and a network of venues (cafes, bars, etc.) that can help any interest group easily organize local monthly meetups in over 500 cities across 20 countries.

Ever since dial-up BBS days, online communities have spawned offline communities. Here's how it usually happens: some "weird guy" in an online community says "if there are people here in Dallas, let's meetup!" Members in other cities where no "weird guy" declares meetup are left without an opportunity to meetup. This is where the idea for MEETUP came from. MEETUP is the automated "weird guy" in every city for every community or interest group. If the world is going to wire itself together, the network should help people with shared interests find each other locally... duh. 

In a few weeks since launching, over 30,000 people have signed up to MEETUP without spending a dime on advertising. It's becoming very clear that there is a large latent desire for more real-world community. Maybe it's influenced by 9/11, maybe it's just always there, untapped. The strong presence of online communities on MEETUP's Top 10 list shows the under-realized power of online community.