Create your own topics

For our release today, Wednesday, April 15th, we’ve got a big new change to the way Meetup works, which gives you a lot more flexibility. Plus some other new stuff this week, too. Take a look…

Create your own topics
Meetup Groups are organized by topic on Meetup, and picking the right topics is essential for helping people find your group. Topics decide who is notified about your Meetup Group, where it’s listed on Meetup.com, and how it’s indexed on Google.

Until now, Meetup HQ managed topics based on your suggestions. But Meetup is about making sure there’s a Meetup everywhere about most everything, and we don’t know your groups as well as you do. So today we’re opening it up and letting organizers create new topics themselves!

Now you can create topics that you think best promote your group to potential members. Choosing the right topics drives people directly to Meetup Groups that are perfect for them.

Topics can also be used as a way for your Meetup Group to connect with similar groups to share information and ideas, collaborate, and build community. You can use a topic to indicate that your group is a part of a larger organization or interest (for example: Beppe Grillo or Hip Mama).

When you create a new topic, there’s a corresponding topic page and map where all groups associated with that topic are listed.  When you want to reach out and talk to others interested in your topic, there’s also the topic message board.   

We’ve also increased the topics you can have from four to seven.  This way, you can still have the topics that have been working for you, and add three more of your own if you like.

You’ll see the option to create new topics when you start a new Meetup Group or when you’re managing topics within your existing group.

How to create a new topic
To create a new topic within an existing group, go to Group Settings >Manage Topics.  Click on a field and start typing.  If we can’t find a match, click on ‘Create this Topic’.


We’ll double-check for any similar topics. Consider picking a similar topic as they often already have people on a waiting list ready to hear about new Meetup Groups.




Click ‘Add topic’ and hit submit on the Manage Topics page. That’s it! Your Meetup Group is now listed under your new topic, and the topic you created will be made available for other organizers to use.


Embed cool topic maps
If you’re into maps and want to showcase how many groups exist under a certain topic, you can now embed a map onto your website. If you’re really, really into maps, play with the topic’s Timeline - you can watch groups pop up as they form around the topic over time. To see the map and timeline, go to any topic’s page: http://writers.meetup.com/ , for example.





Photos
We have made a few modifications to the photos section to address some previous issues w/ usability around the section.

  • We heard from some that the browse bar popping up when you moused over the photo was jarring.  We have added a control to allow it to come up or down on an explicit action. 
  • We added a link (above the photo) to view all photos in an album in a full on grid view. 
  • Finally, we added a long requested feature to the photo section; the ability to run an automated slideshow.

And as usual, we fixed some other bugs, too.

Viviane is a product manager at Meetup.