Meetup groups (New Orleans, Lafayette, Lake Charles: appointed, movies, live)

[kayanne]

My husband and move around the country quite a bit. We're moving to Lake Charles, LA, in 3 weeks, and have been disappointed to discover that Meetup groups apparently have not caught on yet in Louisiana. Meetups have been the foundation of our social life and friendships as we've moved around. For those who don't know, Meetup.com is roughly defined as "2 million members. Meetup.com is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. Meetup allows members to find and join groups unified by a common interest, such as politics, books, games, movies, health, pets, careers or hobbies."

When we lived in Naperville, Illinois, there were 1136 Meetup groups within 25 miles; in Salem, Massachusetts, there were 2009 Meetup groups within 25 miles; Westfield, Indiana, 322 groups.

Lake Charles, LA currently has 8 Meetup groups within 25 miles. Even New Orleans has only 178.

This post isn't to be critical; it's to help introduce Louisiana residents to the concept of Meetup. I started a Meetup group in my current town of Westfield called "Indy Northside Couples Connection," and it has been very successful in the short time we've lived here. I hope to start a similar group in Lake Charles, but if people aren't even aware of Meetup in general, they'll never know about it.

[tinalimey]

I signed up for Meetup when we moved to New Orleans last year. But I started getting spam email with virus links from a couple of the groups, so I cancelled my membership. It's a shame, because it's a very good idea that is unfortunately being misused. So, please be careful.

[kayanne]

Tina, that really is too bad that you got spammed and turned off to the idea of Meetup. I've never had any problems like that through Meetup at all. It may have been related to the privacy settings that the group organizer used. I've been a part of numerous groups and love it!

[Innotech]

Lafayette is probably a better place for meetups but I haven't heard of this even here.

[mountaingirl75]

Meetups have been here for years just not catching on. New Orleans has many, but my area on Northshore only has a few that don't have much activity. In California we had tons of groups that were very active.

[hdwell]

To tell you the truth I forgot about the meet-up groups. They do seem like a nice idea, tho, and apparently are successful in other areas.
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Part of the problem I think is that Louisianians, particularly north La'ns, aren't interested in exploring the internet in the same way other people are. I'm sorry if that sounds insulting, but apparently it's true. Oh yeah, they do get on there, but seem to miss alot. It took awhile for craigslist to catch on.

Now on the other hand, people from around NL really enjoy these Christian websites and such. I have been to one in particular (Apostolic Friends Forum) and then there is one in the local paper online. There are plenty of folks interested in those around here and the South. Anyhow....

I haven't found the meetup group that sparks my interest which is music and songwriting. Nothing local unfortunately. Suppose I could start one, but sustaining it may be difficult.

[kenvbtx]

I think Facebook is probably also a reason why Meetup isn't that popular in LA. There are groups on there too but setting it up and using it is still free. Some groups are also private, meaning if you searched for it, it might not even show up in the results after using the search engine, you'll probably have to be invited by someone in the group already, just saying, not an active Facebook user but have an account.

I'm an active member of Meetup though.