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The Next eBay. That's what Pierre M. Omidyar suspects about Meetup http://meetup.com, -- and he should know, since he founded eBay, as noted by Saul Hansell in The New York Times. What he suspects is that Meetup is like eBay in that it connects people of similar interests. "The early eBay users saw the trade as just an excuse to get to know other people who shared their passion about collecting," he says. "I've always believed," he says, "that helping people connect around a shared passion is good for business and good for the community." It's a belief that suggest that Meetup, like eBay, may also be "a bigger idea than it may have appeared at first."
For eBay, the magic manifested in selling things. For Meetup, it is manifesting in connecting people. The most famous example to date is the darkhorse-to-frontrunning Dean for President campaign, which has leveraged Meetup's ability to mobilize true-believers into both a formidable campaign organization as well as a fundraising juggernaut. But Meetup's appeal is not only that of the activist sort -- so far, 23,748 people interested in witches have mobilized, as have 5,550 knitters, among others. For marketing's best and brightest, the first Reveries Meetup is set to happen tomorrow: http://www.reveries.meetup.com
So where is the money in this? The venues where Meetups happen (restaurants, coffee shops, bars, etc.) pay Meetup a fee to be part of its network, in the hope that the Meetup people will have something to eat or drink while they are meeting up. Organizers also pay a little something -- a "premium membership," enabling users to propose agendas and meeting places, costs $29 per year. Once things really get going (as in the Dean campaign), Meetup is paid "as much as $10,000 per month" for use as "an organizational site." However, Pierre Omidyar, who has put "several million dollars" of his own money into Meetup (which was founded by Scott Heiferman of iTraffic.com fame), says "it is dangerous" to give too much priority to making money, suggesting that the key to success is helping the community first, and balancing "the needs of users and meeting sponsors."
Tim Manners, editor
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