A lot of people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring
people together in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was
born: Could we use the internet to get off the internet -- and
grow local communities?

We didn't know if it would work. Most people thought it was a
crazy idea -- especially because terrorism is designed to make
people distrust one another.

A small team came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months
after 9/11.

Today, almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it's
working. Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups,
Small Business Meetups, Fitness Meetups... a wild variety of
100,000 Meetup Groups with not much in common -- except one
thing.

Meetup is totally oriented towards planning in-person group activities rather than catching up online, and I like the features it doesn’t have almost as much as those it does. You can’t create a really complex profile, private message other people, or post a bunch of status updates.

The people you meet are often very open and friendly; it doesn’t take long before they stop feeling like strangers.

Meetup really is an online network that exists to help people connect in real-life groups on a local level – the first of it’s kind. To see that it grew the way that it had made me an even more proud user of the website.