One Million Meetup Events Hosted Online
Social Platform Successfully Pivoted its Business to Include Online Meetup Events, and Reports a Shift in Americans' Interests and Behaviors
Oct 27, 2020, 07:05 ET
NEW YORK, Oct. 27, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Meetup, the social media platform dedicated to connecting people, announced today that the company has hit the milestone of one million online Meetup events. The beloved technology platform has a rich history of fostering human connections through events where people come together over a common interest. Since online Meetup events debuted in March 2020, the company has registered two million new members, and found that people are demonstrating a stronger desire for positive, healthy-minded communities more than ever before.
As with many companies, Meetup sees a difference in its business from before March 2020 to today. Prior to the pandemic, Meetup events that were being created and attended were fairly equal across all categories. Today, Meetup events for technology and career remain strong, and the company reports seeing heavier interest in health and wellbeing. It experienced 66 percent growth in attendance relative to other social categories.There have been 94,631 unique, health and wellbeing Meetup events created in the past 180 days, including self-improvement, spirituality, and stress relief.
Top search results within Meetup also revolve around health and wellbeing interests, plus the company reports that people are seeking out activities to remain active and connected during the pandemic, including: singles events, book clubs, plus a big spike in yoga and tennis as both can be done with social distancing.
11 of the Most Popular Health & Wellbeing Meetup Event Topics
List is based on RSVP attendance, and listed in order of popularity
- Self-improvement
- Meditation
- Wellness
- Spirituality
- Self-empowerment
- Healthy living
- Yoga
- Consciousness
- Self-exploration
- Stress relief
- Life transformation
"It seems that Americans are desperately seeking solace. We suspect that this is due to the pandemic and perhaps also a heated, political landscape," said David Siegel, CEO of Meetup. "Our data shows that attendance for technology and career Meetup events have stayed strong. In fact, those two categories were the fastest to adapt to online Meetup events at the start of the pandemic. Now, six months into offering online Meetup events, we were surprised to see a huge increase in people looking for feel-good and self-improvement communities."
Top Search Terms on Meetup
Based on data from the past 30 days
- Hiking
- Yoga (329 percent increase in search volume since the start of the pandemic)
- Tennis (188 percent increase in search volume since the start of the pandemic)
- Singles
- Book club
- Meditation
Eighty percent of people who attend Meetup events report feeling more connected to others, and 90 percent say they increased their knowledge and/or skills at Meetup events (source: ImpactED Study, University of Pennsylvania). People continue to use Meetup to find their community and feel connected to others, meeting online or outdoors following social distancing mandates.
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Meetup shifted its policy to temporarily allow online Meetup events through video chat platforms. Based on the wide acceptance by Meetup members and organizers, the company says that online Meetup events will remain, although in-person events will always be the platform's focus and priority.
About Meetup
Meetup is the leading social media platform dedicated to connecting people in person or online through video conferencing. Established in 2002, its mission is to help people grow and achieve their goals through real-life, human connections. From professional networking to online yoga and meditation to coding workshops and more, people use Meetup to meet new people who share those same passions or professional aspirations. Meetup uses technology and social media to help people get away from technology and become more social. Join Meetup to try something new, or to start a group and find other passionate people, at Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/), and follow company news on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@Meetup). For enterprise business solutions visit Meetup Pro (https://www.meetup.com/pro).
Meetup has more than 52 million registered members across 330,000 groups in 193 countries and 10,000 cities around the world.
SOURCE Meetup
