Meeting People in Houston via meetup.com

Over the past 5 days, I have attended two meetups.

What is a meetup? It’s an online social networking portal that facilitates offline (gasp!)  group meetings in various localities around the world.

Meetup allows people to join groups based on a comment interest in something (really, there’s a group for everyone on the site!)

So what about Alana? Well, given my life scenario (moving every 6 months, oftentimes forgetting what state I live in, anyway) sometimes I’m looking for other techies/social media geeks in my current location.

I’ve had a few friends say to me – “Alana, would you recommend match.com? what about eharmony? How can I meet other single young professionals in my city?!”

To this I say – try meetup.com first before you go the online dating route. At least you’re making an in-person connection first, and you are meeting other like minded people who can immediately connect on a common interest/hobby.

For this, and many other things, Meetup is a great tool. Basically, you sign up, enter in your zip code and preferences (what you like) and it does the rest – email notifications, calendar layouts of events, profiles (both for you and the group)…PLUS… most of the time it’s free.

In Houston, I’ve signed up for the Houston Tweeps tweetup group as well as the Houston Photowalks club. It’s a great way to find your niche and learn something from people, locally.

Similar to other social networking sites (and successful films),  MeetUp was inspired by a Book. Bowling Alone, which is about the decline of community in America and how people don’t know their neighbors anymore. “We are providing a service that revitalizes the Internet for local communities,” says the founder of MeetUp.

(via Wikipedia).

On the Lookout for Social Media Events

I love social media… and if you read my post about my awkward run-ins (and conversations) with random people at airports on the subject, you probably wonder – why doesn’t she join a group or attend a tweetup or something?

Let’s be honest. Not all of us out there live in Denver, San Francisco, or New York… but we’d like to get involved in these things too. But the main question is – how?

Even if you don’t know much about social media, but you want to learn, these sites can really help you gain an edge. 

The reason for writing this post is somewhat selfish- I move every six months for my job- and I’m hoping to get involved/find the Houston tech scene when I move westward. So I’m going to give these sites a shot: 

Mashable’s Weekly Event Guide is always a good place to start – especially for conferences of the traveling variety – but are usually limited to the “bigger cities.” 

EventBrite is another site with a large arsenal of events to fit your keyword search terms. Search “twitter” and you might find something good. (and it might even be free- bonus.) Take for example Entrepreneur Camp Houston. And there are non-tech events too- music, festivals, food… 

Yahoo’s Upcoming is another event site that links you to “whats around” and going on around you. I found out about Information Superhighway, a (free) Houston social media event that I’m sad to miss…

Social Media Club is just that. Although it has a bit of a clunky UI, overall you know they mean well. The way it works is that there are SMC’s set up in a variety of cities (not just the usual ones) see if your city is listed on the chapters wiki. 

Depending on your city, Meetup is always a good choice – but the type of events you’re looking for will vary greatly. But the interface is organized and easy to use. Plus you can set up a profile, security settings, and get reminds for certain events.

Comment if you have any additional sites to add :)