The Official Meetup HQ Blog

In the News: Backyard Chickens in USA Today

by Tegan

This morning's issue of USA Today has a great article on a national trend: city folks raising chickens in their backyards.

Of course, thousands of backyard poultry enthusiasts are members of their local chicken communities on Meetup, so we weren't surprised to Meetup Organizer Andy Schneider quoted in the article.

Organizers like Andy (you may know him as the 'Chicken Whisperer' from previous blog posts) have been instrumental in bringing urban chickens home to roost.

At the beginning of this year, there were 4 pet chicken Meetup Groups in the US.

Now, there are dozens!

So even if chickens themselves aren't great flyers, the urban poultry movement is really taking flight.

Tegan is on Meetup's Community team.

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In the News: Yankees Meetup in Boston Celebrates World Series Win Together

by Tegan

Wednesday evening, the folks at the Boston Globe decided to check in on The Boston-Area New York Yankee Fan Meetup.

They picked a great night for it: 175 die hard Yankees fans cheered as their beloved team won the World Series.

Cheering for a baseball team might not seem like a big deal to most of us, but being a Yankees fan in Boston can be tough. (You might remember us posting about this very Meetup Group earlier this year.)

Nikki Fein, a life long Yankees fan and the Assistant Organizer of the Meetup knew that there must be other folks out there rooting for the Bronx Bombers. She just had to find them. And it looks like her hard work Organizing paid off Wednesday night:

"I look around and I think back to the beginning, when there were four or five of us watching the game together,’’ said Fein... “I’m ridiculously happy tonight.’’

And we are are happy for you, too! Congrats everyone!

Of course, for folks that weren't rooting for the Yankees this week, take heart: there are hundreds of Sports Fans Meetups around the world. You might just find one rooting for your team near you  -- no matter how far you find yourself from your team's home turf.

Tegan is on Meetup's Community team.

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Introducing Group Member Profile "Latest Activity" Feeds!

by Mark

Hello everyone,

In an effort to better show what members have been up to in their Meetup Groups, we created a Latest Activity feed for the Group Member Profile page.

The Latest Activity feed will help potential members get more information about who is in a Meetup Group and what the group is about, making them more likely to join!




The Latest Activity feed on a Group Member Profile page only shows public information about the member who's profile you are looking at related to a specific group. A member's Latest Activity feed includes:

• When the member joins the Meetup Group
• Greetings (posted and received)
• Starting or replying to a Message board thread
• Photo uploads, comments and tags
• Comments about Meetup events

The Latest Activity feed is not showing any RSVP information.

If you don't want your Latest Activity to be public, you can go to your Group Member Profile and click "Hide latest activity." Hiding your Latest Activity on your Group Member Profile means only you will be able to view it. Hiding/showing latest activity is on a group by group basis.

We've also made it easier to post greetings to members from their group profiles by putting a "Post a greeting" box above the Latest Activity feed.

Leave us your feedback here

Thanks,

Mark at Meetup

Mark is a Product Manager at Meetup.

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In the News: Parents, Singles, and Hikers Meetups!

by Tegan

I'm thrilled to post that this week there have been several great Meetup Groups in the news!

In St. Paul, the Single Parents Friends Network made the local news for being a great way for single parents in the Twin Cities to get together.

Some of the Group's Meetups are family events, where one-parent families can all come together. Other Meetups are for parents-only, so solo parents can chat and connect with one another through some rare kid-free conversation. 

Thanks to Valerie for the heads up on that one!

Down in Florida, Felina and the Tallahassee Singles Mingle Meetup Group caught the eye of a reporter from the Tallahassee Democrat. Felina's the Organizer for the Meeutp, and she had some great advice on how best to meet that special someone:

As for the best way to meet a mate? Martin says it is about staying active. "If a man comes along while I'm at poetry night, so be it. I do things. What better way to meet them?"

And finally, the Sacramento Press began running a 'New Girl' column, where Susan (a self described 'Silicon Valley escapee') writes about how joining the Sacramento TrailMix hiking Meetup helped her find her place in a new community.

I especially loved her closing line, about how Meetup has helped her out:

The cats are nice but not very talkative (unless it's dinnertime), so I have been looking for ways to connect with the rest of the universe. And I found it.

Congratulations to all three of these fantastic Meetups for the recognition!

Tegan is on Meetup's Community team.

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Snazzy & Informative Meetup Homepages -- Keep Interest Alive!

Meredith LeVind has an amazing Meetup Group homepage. She offered to share some tips with everyone on how she makes it more fun, compelling and interesting for her membership. Check out her wonderful guest blogger post below! -- Meetup HQ

Want your site to be a great advertisement for your Meetup Group?

Here are some excellent ways to define your Meetup's mission statement, showcase your activities and set expectations for new members:

*Make your homepage stand out!  Change up your banner, Meetup Group photo or description monthly to feature holidays, fun themes or upcoming activities.

*Fill your homepage with information that not only explains what your Meetup Group's about, but also that demonstrates what's happening within your Meetup Group. Use pictures and logos in the sponsor box to advertise upcoming events, a question of the week, polls...or feature a weekly newsletter. Fun features on your homepage will catch the attention of potential members, and help keep your current members active and informed.

Making your homepage as informative as possible attracts the kinds of members you want, and helps you set expectations as Organizer. It also demonstrates how much you care about your Meetup Group!

Weekly newsletters promote your activities, encourage members to RSVP, and will bring members back to the site more often.

Come and visit my 20s/30s Gals Meet New Pals Meetup in Raleigh anytime...and feel free to contact me directly if I can offer you more advice on how to make your homepage more Snazzy and Informative too!

Meredith is Organizer of the 20s/30s Gals Meetup New Pals Meetup.

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New Feature - Updates to the Printable RSVP List

by Maya

Hi everyone!

If you like to print out your RSVP list to check people in at your Meetups, your life just got a lot easier. We've made a bunch of updates to make that list more useful and easier to use:

- We changed the name of the link (from "Print summary" to "Print RSVPs") and moved it closer to the actual RSVP list (check under "Who's coming")

- You can now sort by member name or RSVP type!

- If you asked members questions when they RSVP, you can choose to show or hide those answers when you print.

- You can choose to hide photos and the Meetup description when you print.

- You can still see member comments and how many guests they're bringing.

(Click on the example below to make it bigger. Please note that for this Meetup, members were not asked to answer questions when they RSVP.)

Got feedback? Leave it here!

Thanks!

Maya leads the Product Management team at Meetup.

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Happy Howl-oween!

by Kate

You knew it was coming: a cute blog post rife with puns, featuring dogs in Halloween costumes.

There is an annual Halloween pup pawrade in New York City's Tompkins Square Park, and the New York Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Meetup attends with their ghoulish droolish companions.

Their Meetup on October 24th coincided with the event as usua l, and I found lots of great photos uploaded from their 2008 haunt, such as these boo-tiful poochies dressed as a hot dog and another as a piñata!

We'd like to wish everyone a terrifically fun and safe Halloween, whether human or hound!

Kate is on Meetup's Community team.

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