Meetup Launches Member+ for International Friendship Day on July 30, Punctuated by Friend-Themed Events Throughout July

New Profiles and Features Aimed at Making it Easier and Faster to Create Friendships

NEW YORK, June 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Meetup, the platform that connects people who meet over shared interests, announced today that it will officially launch Member+ on Sunday, July 30 to coincide with the United Nations' International Friendship Day. The longtime leader in community building is advancing its technology and design to make it easier and faster to forge meaningful friendships through its Member+ subscription and new profile pages. In anticipation, throughout July the company will present friend-themed events, content, and highlight its #FriendshipDayEveryDay stories of real friendships forged because of Meetup.

To increase the quality and quantity of touchpoints for connectivity and commonalities, Meetup is launching a more dynamic, visual, and social profile page. Designed to better represent the person, the profile page will showcase more of what makes them unique including 'why they joined' Meetup to their current 'life stage.' Member+, a new subscription service, will provide additional premium features designed to accelerate friendships in the best way possible:

• "Who Will be There" to determine an event's vibe

Sometimes it's not the event topic, but the people you meet there that sparks new friendships. This feature helps to increase the likelihood of attending events with people you'd like to meet. It aggregates a summary of that event's attendees including:

• How many people are attending an event by this Meetup group for the first time
• What people are "looking to" gain by attending Meetup events, with options including: Practice hobbies, Socialize, Make friends, and Professionally network
• Shared interests

See what interests are shared between you and those attending the same Meetup event. This also serves for great conversation starters when you meet in person.

• Easier to keep in touch after meeting

A forthcoming feature will allow Member+ subscribers to more easily stay in touch with people they've met at events. Chances are, if you had fun together at one Meetup event, you may want to ping that person to ask if they'll want to join you at another.

• An advertisement-free experience

In the weeks leading up to International Friendship Day and the launch of these fast-forward-to-friend features, Meetup's original content will include: 

• July 4: "The Ultimate Guide to Making Friends as an Adult" article on the Community Matters blog
• July 13 at 3:00 pm ET on Meetup Live: "Member+: The Best Way to Spark New Friendships" is a walk-through of that new feature by the people who designed it
• July 27 at 3:00 pm ET on Meetup Live: "The Secret to Adult Friendships with Kat Vellos," is a workshop conducted by the author of "We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships" on how to make new friends and maintain existing ones
• Articles to be promoted throughout July, include:
• Tips for Making Friends as an Adult
• How to Turn Casual Connections into Close Friendships
• I Used Meetup to Make Friends at Brunch
• Do You Have the "Right" Number of Friends?

"The UN initiated International Friendship Day is so important to Meetup because it proclaims that 'to confront the world's crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms—the simplest of which is friendship' and we agree!'" said Meetup CEO, David Siegel. "Connecting people face-to-face who share a love for something brings people closer more immediately. I would guess that Meetup has been responsible for millions of friendships and we know of a few marriages too."

Meetup membership remains free, and to upgrade or join Member+ the fee will be under $10/month. All Meetup organizers receive the benefits of Member+ as part of their organizer subscription.

ABOUT MEETUP
Meetup is the social media platform for finding and building communities of people who meet about common interests. Established in 2002, the company remains true to its mission of helping people grow and achieve their personal or professional goals through authentic, human connections. Meetup has more than 60 million registered members across 330,000 groups active in 193 countries and 10,000 cities around the world.

Meet people who share your interests or try something new by downloading the Meetup app or visiting Meetup (https://www.meetup.com/) where anyone can join for free with an email address. To organize a Meetup group please visit Meetup here, and for enterprise solutions visit Meetup Pro (https://www.meetup.com/pro). Follow Meetup on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook (@Meetup).

ABOUT INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP DAY
International Friendship Day was proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures, and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities. To mark the International Day of Friendship, the UN encourages governments, international organizations, and civil society groups to hold events, activities, and initiatives that contribute to the efforts of the international community towards promoting a dialogue among civilizations, solidarity, mutual understanding, and reconciliation.

SOURCE Meetup