Diary of a MeetUp/TweetUp
Social media is fantastic for meeting new people, making new contacts, networking yourself and building communities for your brand. But do you feel like most of your conversations are happening via computer and smartphone? If you think to yourself, “If online connections with people I have something in common with are this great, how fun would it be to meet people face-to-face and not be limited to 140 characters per interaction?” – then MeetUp and TweetUps are the answer to your question!
As I attend various MeetUp and TweetUp events – I will post my impressions on this blog under these new categories. I am a new golfer and I find a first visit to an unfamiliar golf course very intimidating. But when I talk to someone who has played the course and they share their experience, the first round is more enjoyable for me. I will offer my perspective to warm-up that first face-to-face event for you, too.
WHAT IS MEETUP?
MeetUp is a social media site that promotes people getting together. You register for MeetUp like you do other social media tools. You sign in and create a profile, including your name, photo, hometown and a brief bio. You may also share your other social media accounts with people you meet through MeetUp.
Once you complete your account set-up, click in the upper left corner of your screen to “Find a MeetUp Group.” Simply type what you are interested in with your location (it defaults to your hometown) and MeetUp will search for your groups.
FINDING MEETUPS TO JOIN AND PARTICIPATE IN
I searched “knit” and found 17 groups with that search term within 25 miles of Boston. To narrow my choices, I use date, time, location and description. In addition to these obvious factors, to determine if a MeetUp is worthwhile, I’ll check the following:
- The date the MeetUp was founded. It is OK to be new – I use this founding date to determine how often they meet.
- How many “Past MeetUps” have they hosted? If a MeetUp was founded 2 years ago, and they have had only three events, look deeper before joining the group. I found several that may be lead generators for businesses. They don’t seem to hold actual events (they may have held one to launch their MeetUp group – since that is required by the terms). Using MeetUp, they could collect members. If I join the MeetUp group to receive updates, I become a warmer lead for the business’ sales force. The good news is these MeetUps I noticed named the MeetUp group after the company. So they did not hide they were a company and used the opportunity to position their business. I want to be aware of this before I join.
- Reviews to give me a sense of what to expect. I warm up my expectation by reading the reviews. For example, this Sunday Night Knitters Club had brief reviews that offered previous participants’ point of view of the events. I read them and concluded that a new-to-the-group, experienced knitter would be very comfortable.
WHAT IS TWEETUP?
TweetUps provide the opportunity to meet people you follow on Twitter, face-to-face. They vary in size – since the term is used for big public meetings and small groups that communicate often on Twitter. The purist might remind us that it is not a TweetUp if you know the people. In other words, if I get together with my friends Jenn Gorius and Cortney Farmer, that is not a TweetUp because we communicate often on Twitter. We are friends – we didn’t meet on Twitter. That is a meeting.
FINDING TWEETUPS TO JOIN AND PARTICIPATE IN
In the past, I learned about bigger TweetUps too late to attend – fortunately, the Twitter people are great about using hashtags to keep the rest of us in the loop. But this is about being IN the room with people – not being in MY room.
So I did some research to learn about the events more than 5 minutes before they start … and the result showed me I am pathetic. I live in the Boston area and check out the tool available for me to know where the TweetUp events can be found in Boston: Boston TweetUp.
My Cinderella-not-invited-to-the-TweetUp act is over. This information could not be more spoon-fed to me if they called me on the phone every day.
If you are from the Greater Boston area, follow @bostontweetup and its founder @JoselinMane – “Like” the Boston TweetUp Facebook page. If you are not – check your favorite search engine. I would expect every city has this resource.
MEET’N GREETS
So I plan to be the social in social media and share my experiences. Please share yours and/or set me straight.
Venturing out of “my room” and meeting real live people:
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