Photo from: https://www.meetup.com/about/
The influence of social media increases everyday. People use social media to keep in touch with their friends and family, meet new people, share information and ideas. While Bumble, Tinder, Hinge become trendy apps to meet new people, my favorite app is Meetup. In this blog, I will share my story about how Meetup helps me making new friends.
I’m from Alberta, and recently moved to Ottawa in October, 2022. I’m single, no pets, live in a one-bedroom apartment by myself. I didn’t know anyone in the city, I was always alone. People say it is hard to make friends in adults world, I felt just like that. Pandemic has changed the way we communicate to each other; a lot of people are getting used to meet people online and talk virtually. I’m an outgoing person, and I love to have great time with friends. The depression started growing in me due to the lack of social life. Getting familiar with a new city is not easy. When I want to have a drink at a bar, I couldn’t find anyone to go with 😦 After a month moving to Ottawa, I decided to sign up Meetup. So, what is Meetup? 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. In this app, you can join and create any group events based on your interests, hobbies, and professions. there are a lot of groups you can choose to join based on your interests and hobbies, and each group organize events and activities in a regular basis, such as board game night, movie night, explore different cuisines, ski and snowboarding, play sports, etc. Everyone can post events in a group after becoming a member. Is it interesting? I joined a bunch of groups and decided to go a few events and I became much happier ever since.
Photo from: https://www.meetup.com/blog/tips-for-making-friends-as-an-adult-during-lonely-times/
Back in winter 2021, I joined a French conversation event organized by a Meetup group Alliance Francais Ottawa. The event was held in a bar on Bank Street, I was sitting in a table with three other ladies. We chatted about where we are from, the reason why we joined this event and much more. We have similar experience as we are all from different cities and recently move to Ottawa for work. I built a good connection with one of the ladies because our connection was instantly clicked. Knowing that we both live in downtown, we decide to join another Meetup event together. and then, we went to another one. After going to a few events together, we decided to hang out by ourselves. She became my first friend in Ottawa, we go for dinner together, have drinks once a week to chat, go to festival etc. I start enjoying life more in Ottawa. I also join a few other events with different Meetup groups and start getting to know more and more people, and eventually, we start hangout our own and build friendship.
If you are also new in the city looking for new friends to socialize, this is the go-to app. Perhaps we will meet in a Meetup event soon. 😊
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
Great post Maggie! I had never heard of Meetup before reading this and I found it very interesting. The pandemic has made us more isolated than ever so I think an app like that is a very nice way of meeting new people with similar interests! It’s definitely hard to make friends as an adult. Especially now that a lot of people work and study from home.
Maggie,
I did not know about this awesome vehicle for meeting friends and as soon as I read about your experience of relocating across Canada, without your family, as a single person, I immediately related to you a military veteran. In 2005, I was posted to Winnipeg, Manitoba from Petawawa, Ontario. I too was single and it was a very challenging experience as I also did not know anyone in my new city. At that time, social media really wasn’t a thing and Facebook had just launched. Reflecting on how lonely I was when I first moved to Winnipeg, a tool like “Meetup” would have been a welcomed treat. Your post makes me think of how useful and effective this ap can be for military veterans who move around often.
As a Programs Support Officer with the Canadian Armed Forces, advocating for veterans and developing veteran-focused initiative with my caring team that address all domain of well-being, your success with employing Meetup as a means to expand your network reveals that this ap could serve as a tool to promote optimal social integration.
Thank you for sharing!
Cool post Maggie! I feel like it is so normal for people to meet romantic partners on online networks like tinder or bumble but that often doesnt extend to friendships. I think the concept of matching people based off of things they enjoy is such a great way to bridge that awkward first incounter and give something to talk about. As an adult it is so hard to make new connections so anything that makes that easier is something we should all take advantage of!
Very relatable post! I completely understand how hard it is to make new friends as an adult, especially after moving to a new City. I moved to Toronto last year and really struggled meeting new friends as well. Especially friends that have common interests at this in between age of adulthood (26) some people my age are still partying and living that fun single life, others are settled down getting married/having children and buying houses! I am somewhere in the middle and still figuring my life out. I am definitely going to check out Meetup, another option that I’ve heard about is Bumble for friends. Still have yet to try it, but you’ve inspired me!
Thank you for sharing Maggie! I never head of Meetup before and I will definitely check it out, thanks to you. I moved to Ottawa at the end of the summer and city life has been pretty lonely so far.
Your article was inspirational and positive, I definitely thinks it will convince a lot of people to give it a try.