I was referred to a new social networking community through a friend called “Meetup.” Meetup describes itself as a service that “helps people find others who share their interest or cause, and form lasting, influential, local community groups that regularly meet face-to-face. We believe that the world will be a better place when everyone has access to a people-powered local Meetup Group. That’s our goal.”
I was delighted to see that within the Meetup community there were small self-coalescing groups of people who shared a common passion for science. Even further, I found that there were nine people near me who would be interested in learning about a “Meetup” group that shared an appreciation of science and another group that had aggregated around interests in ecology. I am excited to see what these folks are up to and whether they will be interested in working with me on new outreach programs in my community… maybe to help organize Science Café’s or Festivals in 2009? Does anyone have any experiences with Meetup that they can share?
Meetups have been around for a while and I believe they got a big boost through political campaigns (definitely in 2004 but maybe in 2000). My experience in Chicago is that there are a LOT of people who express interest, but MANY FEWER who take the intiative to start one and do the work required to maintain it (it isn't free to do). How large/successful one becomes, I believe, has as much to do with the efforts of the leader, accessibility, etc. as with the choice of topic.
Let me know if you want more detailed info on my experiences with a few of them here.
~ Monica