Real Groups Make a Real Difference: July 2008 Archives
The Saguaro Seminar, a program at the Harvard Kennedy School, posted some interesting facts about the power of meeting up. Research shows that joining a club can improve your life expectancy as dramatically as quitting smoking.
"Joining and participating in one group cuts your odds of dying over the next year in half. Joining two groups cuts it by three quarters."
Read the whole list here.
"Joining and participating in one group cuts your odds of dying over the next year in half. Joining two groups cuts it by three quarters."
Read the whole list here.
By Karina on 07/31/08 7:40 PM
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Meetup organizers do a pretty heroic job of building and running community. Members of Meetup Groups do a brave thing. They get out of their house, travel to their Meetup, meet real people face-to-face, build relationships and get what they need and want from their Meetup Group.
Frankly, starting and joining a virtual group is easy by comparison.
People can be inspirational, fun, informative, empathetic, sympathetic, give support and be there for you. But they can also be complex, sometimes difficult and demanding. Meeting face-to-face you can engage with all of these characteristics. Online, you can avoid them. Our view is that offline may take more investment of time and emotion from members and organizers. But it will yield proportionate results.
In New York Times Op Ed, Alice Mathias goes a little further:
"Facebook purports to be a place for human connectivity, but it's made us more wary of real human confrontation...dwelling online is a cowardly and utterly enjoyable alternative to real interaction".
Here are two comments from people who got out of the home, took the risk and got the reward that real human contact can give:
"A great way to share resources about our children with Asperger's...also wonderful therapy for parents who deal with these issues each day"
—North Texas parents dealing with Asperger's Syndrome group
"Super motivating people at all levels of running!"
—The Brooklyn Running Meetup Group.
By Douglas Atkin on 07/09/08 2:43 PM
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Last year we figured out what Meetup is all about.
That may seem strange for a company that was almost five years old at the time.
Actually, we knew that Meeting Up was about many things. Having seen what Meetup Groups were doing over those years, having talked to thousands of members and organizers, we knew that meeting up in groups was changing lives in big and small ways. That it was bringing community back to a society that had lost touch with itself. That meeting up enabled people to exchange knowledge, support each other, make new friends and pursue their passions with people who loved doing the same things.
We realized that what all these things amounted to is that real face-to-face groups are powerful. When people organize themselves into groups, they do things that are very hard, even impossible to do on their own.
Look at this Writer's Meetup Group in Colorado that the Greeley Tribune featured. Mark Shelton, a writer said:
"I was looking for an opportunity to meet with other people that might be going through the same things that I am-- writers block or just need other ideas ... that type of thing," said Shelton, a resident of Fort Collins. "And she (her editor) said, 'Why don't you go on Meetup?'".
The article continues: 'Yet, according to Ben Ward, who started the group, the purpose for meeting is not simply to critique writing. Instead, Ward sees the group as a way for people to get out and meet people in a novel way -- face to face. "You always see people on MySpace with a thousand friends or something, but you never know how many of them they've ever met," Ward said. "And a lot of people are using that to replace traditional friendships too, since they just kind of communicate their own lines.
"So this was a good way to bring people together."
And Meetup Groups like this are not just about improving their members' lives in ways big and small. Thousands of groups have been established to change the world.
So, this is what we believe at Meetup HQ:
"We believe in the power of self-organized groups to improve lives and change the world".
Everything we do is designed to make Meetup Groups more powerful so that they are there to help people teach, share, learn, cope, support, motivate and have fun.
They're there to enable people to belong, feel purpose, have meaning and be confident enough to be themselves. And they're there to help people to unite, activate, mobilize, advocate, agitate, lobby, endorse, create democracy and change things.
That may seem strange for a company that was almost five years old at the time.
Actually, we knew that Meeting Up was about many things. Having seen what Meetup Groups were doing over those years, having talked to thousands of members and organizers, we knew that meeting up in groups was changing lives in big and small ways. That it was bringing community back to a society that had lost touch with itself. That meeting up enabled people to exchange knowledge, support each other, make new friends and pursue their passions with people who loved doing the same things.
We realized that what all these things amounted to is that real face-to-face groups are powerful. When people organize themselves into groups, they do things that are very hard, even impossible to do on their own.
Look at this Writer's Meetup Group in Colorado that the Greeley Tribune featured. Mark Shelton, a writer said:
"I was looking for an opportunity to meet with other people that might be going through the same things that I am-- writers block or just need other ideas ... that type of thing," said Shelton, a resident of Fort Collins. "And she (her editor) said, 'Why don't you go on Meetup?'".
The article continues: 'Yet, according to Ben Ward, who started the group, the purpose for meeting is not simply to critique writing. Instead, Ward sees the group as a way for people to get out and meet people in a novel way -- face to face. "You always see people on MySpace with a thousand friends or something, but you never know how many of them they've ever met," Ward said. "And a lot of people are using that to replace traditional friendships too, since they just kind of communicate their own lines.
"So this was a good way to bring people together."
And Meetup Groups like this are not just about improving their members' lives in ways big and small. Thousands of groups have been established to change the world.
So, this is what we believe at Meetup HQ:
"We believe in the power of self-organized groups to improve lives and change the world".
Everything we do is designed to make Meetup Groups more powerful so that they are there to help people teach, share, learn, cope, support, motivate and have fun.
They're there to enable people to belong, feel purpose, have meaning and be confident enough to be themselves. And they're there to help people to unite, activate, mobilize, advocate, agitate, lobby, endorse, create democracy and change things.
By Douglas Atkin on 07/02/08 2:19 PM
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Happiness is important.
Perhaps you think this is obvious. Happiness is a concept that's well established in America culture. It's enshrined in the American Constitution after all: 'Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness'.
Frankly, speaking as someone who grew up in the UK, I've always thought that this phrase was a bit strange. 'Life' and 'Liberty' I get. They're fundamental human rights. But why would the Founding Fathers give 'The pursuit of Happiness' equal status? Nice if you can get it, was my thinking. Not as important as Life and Liberty, but worth pursuing, sure.
Well it turns out that the Founding Fathers cleverly anticipated 21st Century science. And that I was wrong. This 'optional extra' is not so optional. It's been proven to be vital to longevity and better health:
"However we measure happiness, it seems to be conducive to better health. Happy people tend to have more robust immune systems and lower level of stress causing cortisol. If artificially exposed to the flu virus, they are much less likely to contract the disease. They are also more likely to recover from major surgery" (Richard Layard, a prominent UK economist writing in his excellent book 'Happiness, Lessons from a new Science'.
All of which begs the question "what makes people happy?"
Not money, as it turns out. Once people have achieved a certain basic standard (they can eat, have shelter etc) each successive increase in material wealth does not generate the equivalent increase in feelings of happiness. This has been documented in many studies, as as Layard reports:
"...all the evidence says that on average people are no happier today than people were fifty years ago. Yet at the same time average incomes have more than doubled. This paradox is equally true for the United States and Britain and Japan."
So what does make people happy? Groups. A social network and the relationships, sense of meaning and sense of achievement that they generate.
"Close relationships are the single most important factor in whether someone is happy." (Richard Layard again).
Recent studies have shown that there is a tight relationship between Belonging to Groups, Happiness, and increased health and longevity. Groups are a fundamental human need. They are equal in status to 'Life' and 'Liberty'.
If you're in any doubt, look at these quotes that I took at random from the survey that's asked of Meetup members after they've attended a Meetup. They show how important their Meetup Groups are in their lives:
"It was nice having another person with ADHD/ADD to validate me. It takes someone who knows what it's like to struggle each day. To make you feel like your not alone"
(Member of the Orlando Attention Deficit Disorder Meetup Group)
And this stay-at-home Moms group:
"About half of the moms in the group are military spouses and understand what I am going through. It's a great support group and whenever a group member has needed anything, I am proud to say, my members have come through." (Karissa - Oceanside Little Explorers)
Perhaps you think this is obvious. Happiness is a concept that's well established in America culture. It's enshrined in the American Constitution after all: 'Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness'.
Frankly, speaking as someone who grew up in the UK, I've always thought that this phrase was a bit strange. 'Life' and 'Liberty' I get. They're fundamental human rights. But why would the Founding Fathers give 'The pursuit of Happiness' equal status? Nice if you can get it, was my thinking. Not as important as Life and Liberty, but worth pursuing, sure.
Well it turns out that the Founding Fathers cleverly anticipated 21st Century science. And that I was wrong. This 'optional extra' is not so optional. It's been proven to be vital to longevity and better health:
"However we measure happiness, it seems to be conducive to better health. Happy people tend to have more robust immune systems and lower level of stress causing cortisol. If artificially exposed to the flu virus, they are much less likely to contract the disease. They are also more likely to recover from major surgery" (Richard Layard, a prominent UK economist writing in his excellent book 'Happiness, Lessons from a new Science'.
All of which begs the question "what makes people happy?"
Not money, as it turns out. Once people have achieved a certain basic standard (they can eat, have shelter etc) each successive increase in material wealth does not generate the equivalent increase in feelings of happiness. This has been documented in many studies, as as Layard reports:
"...all the evidence says that on average people are no happier today than people were fifty years ago. Yet at the same time average incomes have more than doubled. This paradox is equally true for the United States and Britain and Japan."
So what does make people happy? Groups. A social network and the relationships, sense of meaning and sense of achievement that they generate.
"Close relationships are the single most important factor in whether someone is happy." (Richard Layard again).
Recent studies have shown that there is a tight relationship between Belonging to Groups, Happiness, and increased health and longevity. Groups are a fundamental human need. They are equal in status to 'Life' and 'Liberty'.
If you're in any doubt, look at these quotes that I took at random from the survey that's asked of Meetup members after they've attended a Meetup. They show how important their Meetup Groups are in their lives:
"It was nice having another person with ADHD/ADD to validate me. It takes someone who knows what it's like to struggle each day. To make you feel like your not alone"
(Member of the Orlando Attention Deficit Disorder Meetup Group)
And this stay-at-home Moms group:
"About half of the moms in the group are military spouses and understand what I am going through. It's a great support group and whenever a group member has needed anything, I am proud to say, my members have come through." (Karissa - Oceanside Little Explorers)
By Douglas Atkin on 07/02/08 11:08 AM
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