Meetup is a social media platform for hosting and organizing in-person and virtual activities, gatherings, and events for people and communities of similar interests, hobbies, and professions.

[3] WeWork sold it to AlleyCorp, an early stage NY-focused venture fund and incubator, in March 2020.

[10][11] The idea for Meetup came from Heiferman meeting his neighbors in New York City for the first time after the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers.

[19] Meetup was originally intended to focus on hobbies and interests,[8] but it was popularized by Presidential hopeful Howard Dean in 2004.

[24] In 2009, Meetup started running hackathons, where employees came up with new features that would be implemented if their coworkers supported it.

[35][36] In October 2019, Meetup began to test a different pricing model in two US states,[37] reducing the costs that must be paid by organizers of $23.99/month or $98.94/six months, but requiring users to pay a $2 fee in order to RSVP for events, leaving several users angry.

[38] In March 2020, WeWork sold Meetup to AlleyCorp and other investors, reportedly at a substantial loss.

[5] Meetup is an online service used to create groups that host local in-person and virtual events.

[43] Meetup users do not have "followers" or other direct connections with each other like on other social media sites.

[43] The most popular categories are "adventure and outdoor activities, career and business, and parents and family.

[20] They also pay a fee to run the group, under the expectation of sharing the cost with members that attend events.