Most local news organizations have been focusing their Internet efforts on hard news and ignoring local social functions such as local clubs and groups. While they've been dozing, a website called
Meetup.com has put together a service that enables thousands of groups, many informal, to arrange offline local monthly meetings.
Meetup.com provides each local group with a location-indexed webpage, member roster, photo gallery, calendar, online forum, and an array of offline tools such as printable signs and posters. The service is easy to use and has spread like wildfire. (Recently, the Online News Association
decided to use Meetup.com to set up local ONA get-togethers.) The Meetup.com service has more than 1.6 million members worldwide, most of whom are in the United States.
Now Meetup.com has decided to charge for its services. The $19-a-month fee for each group seems high, considering that most Meetup groups are very small and informal. Typically a handful of people with a shared interest -- scrapbookers, knitters, photographers, even Howard Stern fans -- will get together for coffee and conversation. Meetup.com's move may present an opportunity for local news organizations to get back in the business of being relevant to local life by providing such services to their local communities.
