Meetup.com Experiences

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I really want to try to make some new friends my age in my area...I've been here for about a year and don't really know anyone outside of work. I have heard that meetup.com is a good way to meet people (and it seems to be one of the few ways to make new friends outside of work/existing friendships...) I have a couple of questions for anyone who has used it before.

1.) How exactly does it work? If I find a group that I'd be interested in doing things with, what is the procedure to actually start participating in activities? Do I just sign up for any activity and show up, or do new people have to do anything special to join in? I feel like joining in on activities as a newcomer may be weird if everyone else there has been participating for a long time.

2.) How safe is the site? Most of the groups look pretty safe, but I don't know what they're like. A few of the groups look kind of scary, but I don't know if the site uses any sort of verification or safety features for groups.

3.) Silly question that I've asked here before, but...are the people at meetups usually all old people? It lets you see people who attended recent events in some of the groups, and in most of them everyone was 40+ or 50+...very few people my age. I know more than enough people in their 50s, but I really want to start meeting more people in the 20/30 age bracket.

4.) Any other experiences to share?

I like the site. One of those few examples where "social" media is used for good very often (in my opinion). Sure, there are some weird meetup groups (for example, there was a swinger group that I found once and I'm just like "wut"). However, even I am working on getting in the habit of using it more often. I often will get anxious about being in large groups of people, or, like as you said before, I'll arrive and I find I'm the youngest person there.

So I would recommend it. Joining a certain group is entirely up to you. There isn't a stupid "News Feed" like on Facebook. So go for it!

To answer your questions:
1. Make an account, whether through a UN and PW or through Facebook or something outside of that. Usually you find groups of people that host events. You will often be asked questions about why you are interested in joining the group (just keep the answers short and sweet if you find this to be a waste of time). You will receive email updates asking whether you are attending certain events, but I'm pretty sure there are email settings to turn that off.

2. What I like about the site is that you are as safe as you make yourself. To be safest, you can display as little as needed on your profile (if you don't want to look suspicious with your little amount of info, you can always contact the leader of the group personally).

3-4. See above. Maybe browse the group's members if you are conscious about that.

What City are you in?

I have had good experiences with it. Of course I live in a big city so there are a lot of groups to choose from. But basically just think of something you are interested in and search for a group in your area. The group leader will come up with activities for you to do and you can choose to participate or not. In any given group it seems like most of the members aren't that active, but some are very active. But it is a good way to meet people that you know you will at least have one common interest with.

Mostly positive; the only negative thing is its hard for me to 'break into' a social circle. Experiences in Vancouver, Canada only. Been to a total of >40 meetups in nearly a dozen groups. I have a couple of reasonably good friends and thats all I can really expect. I find it really hard to get along with people due to shyness and awkwardness anyhow, even in groups for socially awkward people. Fortunately, there are great supports in terms of an Aspie meetup group (see my signature) and a young adult's mental health group that was started by a childhood friend.

I often force myself to go out to say board games or dancing every week to try to break the mould; get more experienced at conversation and getting along with people but its still quite a long shot for me. In the aforementioned support groups I feel very safe but theres less opportunity to be judged for being awkward and hence less room to practice improving social skills when I need it.

Every Meetup group is different from each other and you can find them in any area you live in. It is a good way to meet new people outside your school or work. If you find a group that you find very interesting, just join it and introduce yourself to the other members. The site looks pretty safe to me. As for age groups, I've seen some social Meetup groups that are specifically for people in there 20s, 30s, 40s, and or 50 plus, and even singles.

I joined a social Meetup group that was for people in their 20s and early 30s. In that group, we went to bars and restaurants to socialize and other random events happening in our area. It was also a great way for people to find potential romantic partners. I actually didn't have any luck finding a romantic partner in that group. I'll try in some other group soon.