Social networking in meatspace.

November 7, 2007 8:47 AM

I know the new social networking trends around here are stirring controversy, but I think there's room at metafilter for one more! I'd like to see a place to announce a less-than-meet-up and ask who's-going-to-be-at-local-event?

One common thread in ask.me seems to be "how to meet like-minded people in my town?" Also, periodically, people come to metatalk, asking if anyone around here is going to be at a particular upcoming event in their town. I think we could kill both birds with a centralized space (like, for instance, last.fm has for local shows) to say "Hey, metafilter! I'm going to be at the Impossibly Cool Band show on Friday." or "I'm going to the lecture on sustainable architecture at Local Art Museum tonight." or whatever and "Is anyone else going who might want to go together?"

I have thus far enjoyed myself every time I've met up with a mefi in the real world, and I'd appreciate a way to do it more often. I guess another page (meet.me!) might seem bloated to many people and perhaps it is just unwieldy and unnecessary, but I can't be the only person who'd like to see it.

posted by crush-onastick to MetaFilter gatherings at 8:47 AM (43 comments total)

You know there's a MetaFilter group at Upcoming [ur, upcoming.yahoo.com] right? We've talked about this in terms of gig on the music site too but I don't think we ever really reached a decent conclusion on how to do sort-of meetups but not have it turn into a place for everyone to pimp everything they're doing [Craigslist suffers form this somewhat].
posted by jessamyn at 8:56 AM on November 7, 2007

Maybe you could fold it into travel. If you were going to a play in Madison then you could post it to the Madison section on travel and it would appear on the sidebar of everyone within 50 miles of there: "Cheesehead (link to Cheesehead's profile) is going to a play (link to his post on travel about the play) in Madison (link to the Madison page on travel)."

I should note that I have never really been to travel and so this suggestion may be based on false assumptions about how travel works.
posted by ND¢ at 9:00 AM on November 7, 2007

That's the Upcoming group where there's a prominent post saying, "Can we keep this to MeFi events? The NYC music events belong somewhere else. Thanks."
posted by Wolfdog at 9:01 AM on November 7, 2007

I think it would be cool for people to have a place here to pimp what they're doing, as long as it's not MetaTalk. I love it when I "know" the person of people in a band I'm seeing, or in a play, or whatever. I would be happy to support fellow MeFites in their many creative endeavors.
posted by amro at 9:03 AM on November 7, 2007

Hmm. The yahoo thing is awfully....quiet. I might could see something like this happening here, though. I would like to have known, for instance, who among Bay Area Mefites were going to be at Day of the Dead on Friday, and who might be at the Elvis Costello show tomorrow...
posted by rtha at 9:14 AM on November 7, 2007

I'd like to know if anyone's going to be at the Maiden show in NJ in March.
posted by Wolfdog at 9:16 AM on November 7, 2007

I disliked most of the new social web features, but this actually sounds like a good idea.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:39 AM on November 7, 2007

Wolfdog: I'd like to know if anyone is going to the Cracker show at the Cubby Bear in Chicago on Saturday.

jessamyn: I had no idea about metafilter at upcoming, but it does seem rather quiet.

I suppose there is the potential for a very high rate of noise and a very low rate of utility. I'd like to think it could work, though.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:41 AM on November 7, 2007

Could it be a profile/activity based feature, rather than a new xxxxx.metafilter.com area? Perhaps you choose a geographical area/interest and get status updates or even a seperate page of stuff people in your area are going to/interested in?

And you add your own on your own profile page?

Example. I live in London. There's an exhibition of X on at Y venue, with Z pub nearby. Rather than posting a new Metatalk thread, I go into my profile, go to the 'Happy Dave's Social' section, type a summary, choose from a few tickboxes (i.e. Event/Gonna be in the area/Want some friends) and click 'Update'. People can choose to see these things from only their friends, or from people in the same area as them, or from people who have only ticked the same 'interest' boxes as them.

Could be cool.
posted by Happy Dave at 9:49 AM on November 7, 2007

Sounds like a good idea.

Move all the meetup posts and stuff (meetup sidebar) there too. Maybe have meetup posts semi-dynamically ordered by meetup date (most imminent at the top), to address the issue of meetup reminders being posted.
posted by exogenous at 9:52 AM on November 7, 2007

Happy Dave: I like that idea. An opt-in list of events people are attending in your zip code/designated geographical area that displays events based upon your preferences.
posted by crush-onastick at 9:56 AM on November 7, 2007

The problem with Happy Dave's idea is that it's sort of limiting. I'd like to be able to see everything that's going on, on the off-chance that an event a few states away piques my interest and inspires me to take a road trip. You never know.
posted by amro at 10:02 AM on November 7, 2007

Great idea Dave (same for you crushonastick). I could see it being even more simpler. Have a zip code box and a date range selection in your profile where you'd just plug in a zip code and a list of events from members would pop up for that date range. God only knows I look for creative ways to pimp my shit but I'd love to attend other members events with my fellow Meta people.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 10:20 AM on November 7, 2007

It still sounds cool, but it sounds like it would involve intergrating an event calender within Metafilter, which sounds a bit complex. Doesn't mean it shouldn't be down, but it needs to be thought out a bit.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:20 AM on November 7, 2007

The thing I don't get, really, is the reference to "less-than-meetups." As far as I understand, the sole criterion for a Mefi meetup is for the people getting together to be Mefites. Thus, wouldn't by definition any gathering of Mefites be considered a Mefi meetup, not in need of separate classification and separate treatment?
posted by WCityMike at 10:57 AM on November 7, 2007

By the way, CrushOnAStick, for some reason every time I see your handle I keep hearing this Peter Lorre Reinfeldesque voice in my mind going "Crush! On a STEEEEK!" as if he's demonstrating some new foodstuff. What said foodstuff would be, I have no idea.
posted by WCityMike at 10:59 AM on November 7, 2007

Mike, a meetup is specifically called for specifically meeting Mefites (usually). There's the actual event going on. What the OP is asking for is way to designate that you are going to some other event, such as a concert, gallery opening, sexparty etc and inviting other mefites to join you.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:27 AM on November 7, 2007

I'm all for more features that I will never use. Look people, I hate y real friends, don't expect me to show up to see you lot of unwashed pixels at the Albino Gym Rats concert.
posted by Mister_A at 11:36 AM on November 7, 2007

I'll be at the bus stop at 15th and California in Denver, getting off the 20 bus and getting on the 15 heading east down Colfax, tonight at around 5:47. I've got a horrendous cold, so anyone who'd like to come and have a handshake or something is welcome to meet me there. I'll be wearing my brown parka, a hat tilted low over my face, and a glossy stare that indicates I've taken so much aspirin that I can't feel my face.
posted by koeselitz at 11:37 AM on November 7, 2007

LAST MINUTE UPDATE

Best make that 17th and Welton. I got the schedule confused. Hope I haven't ruined anyone's plans.
posted by koeselitz at 11:40 AM on November 7, 2007

*my
posted by Mister_A at 11:41 AM on November 7, 2007

I remain a big nerd about wanting an event system, but, yeah, we just really haven't made working that out in detail a priority.
posted by cortex at 11:50 AM on November 7, 2007

"The thing I don't get, really, is the reference to "less-than-meetups." As far as I understand, the sole criterion for a Mefi meetup is for the people getting together to be Mefites. Thus, wouldn't by definition any gathering of Mefites be considered a Mefi meetup, not in need of separate classification and separate treatment?"

Not really. I've invited MeFites to go with me to a couple events, mostly because I'd become friends with those folks through MeFi. If there was an easier way to do this, that'd be handy.

And yeah, Upcoming used to be a lot better before it was all Yahood, just like meetup used to be better when it was free.
posted by klangklangston at 11:57 AM on November 7, 2007

It'd be sweet if the events got tossed into some sort of RSS feed, allowing you to subscribe to different folks events. You'd ideally be able to sort both by people and by zip.
posted by klangklangston at 11:59 AM on November 7, 2007

By zip? Yeah, you high-and-mighty big-city folks would like that, wouldn't you? How about being able to set a range in miles? Yeah, we non-metric-system-users would like that, wouldn't we?
posted by box at 12:28 PM on November 7, 2007

I will be at the Lansing airport at 8:15 this evening.
posted by jessamyn at 12:41 PM on November 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

I'll be at the Maiden show in NJ in March if all the tickets don't get snapped up in presales before they go on general sale. We could designate that event a 'less-than meetup'.
posted by nowonmai at 12:58 PM on November 7, 2007

I am currently eating lunch at my desk.
posted by The corpse in the library at 12:58 PM on November 7, 2007

I'm one of those that already snapped mine up (10am yesterday morning). If you get yours, drop me an email and we'll figure out a way to say hi.
posted by Wolfdog at 1:02 PM on November 7, 2007

It'd be sweet if the events got tossed into some sort of RSS feed, allowing you to subscribe to different folks events. You'd ideally be able to sort both by people and by zip.
posted by klangklangston

Great idea.
posted by bru at 1:52 PM on November 7, 2007

I just waited around in the cold for almost an hour. Where the hell were you, Metafilter?
posted by box at 1:58 PM on November 7, 2007

box: we were at the other starbucks on that corner. Didn't you see us waving?
posted by crush-onastick at 2:03 PM on November 7, 2007

You guys ditched me, again.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:40 PM on November 7, 2007

As far as I understand, the sole criterion for a Mefi meetup is for the people getting together to be Mefites.

Me & Breezeway got together and did my laundry. During the dry cycle we went to the bar across the street and got drunk. I hereby declare this the Monthly Clean Jonmc's Scivvies Meetup.
posted by jonmc at 5:22 PM on November 7, 2007

I'm no longer at the airport.
posted by jessamyn at 6:13 PM on November 7, 2007

What are you twittering on about?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:01 PM on November 7, 2007

cortex: does this mean that this is on someone's back burner? I mean, I'd love to know if it's laundry night for jonmc! His laundry is a bit inconvenient for me, but the story alone would be worth the airfare.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:23 AM on November 8, 2007

Cool. Do you own a HazMat suit?
posted by jonmc at 6:43 AM on November 8, 2007

It's on low simmer, I reckon. We haven't been poking it, really, but I continue to think about it and will probably poke Matt in the eye periodically when there's not something else going down.
posted by cortex at 6:45 AM on November 8, 2007

You know what, jon, it's not rated as such, but I do have some latex clothing that ought to do the trick.
posted by crush-onastick at 6:59 AM on November 8, 2007

I do believe that it'd be better if we can just implant a honing device in every MeFite's skull. Then, impromptu meetups can be required whenever two or more of us are in the same quadrant.
posted by koeselitz at 7:01 AM on November 8, 2007

I do believe that it'd be better if we can just implant a honing device in every MeFite's skull

Honing? So we can, like, sharpen each other's minds?
posted by Happy Dave at 7:41 AM on November 8, 2007

Seems like the best idea would be to create a new section of the site, call it MetaMeat or MetaEvents (or MetaMeta) , and take the meetup stuff out of MetaTalk and put it there. Then there could also be the "hey I'm going to see Starland Vocal Band, anyone else going?" kind of stuff.

Looks like exogenous already sort of said that. Seconding it, then.
posted by kpmcguire at 10:26 AM on November 8, 2007