Meetup, the platform that connects people who meet over a shared interest, today announced its most popular Meetup events of 2022. With a registered database of more than 60 million people organizing and joining in-person and live, online events, Meetup may be the world’s authority on people’s interests and activities based on actual behaviors of searching, joining and attending Meetup events.
As the adage goes, love was in the air. To date in 2022, 60% out of the top ten event searches demonstrated that people were prioritizing connections, both romantic and friendly. This is a significant increase from 2021 where 30% were focused on relationships, and 20% in 2020 and 2019. The search term “friends” became the #1 most popular search term in July 2021, and remains one of the most popular search terms on Meetup today.
Since the pandemic, “socializing” has become the #2 most widely attended category of events overtaking “career and networking,” which held that second spot in prior years. The category of “games” is a first-time new entry to the top ten in at #10 of most attended in 2022; up from #14 in 2021 and #13 in 2020. Meetup’s “tech” category keeps its top honor of being the #1 most attended category for four consecutive years. This can be partially due to Meetup’s legacy and its enterprise solution, called Meetup Pro, which is used by tech companies—including Google, Adobe, Microsoft and others—to share product news with loyal customers and build brand ambassadors.
Five out of the 10 most popular individual Meetup events this past year were focused on the theme of friendships and connections, with “Meet Your Match in Real Life” and “Strategies for Ending Loneliness” being the top two most popular Meetup events. Others in this top ten list include, “The Power of Authentic Friendships,” “Finding Compatible Connections,” and “Attachment Styles Meet Friendships.”
“Meetup is trusted for building a community of people who share a common interest,” said David Siegel, CEO of Meetup. “Since 2002, Meetup has connected extraverts and introverts—no matter of race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, or sexual orientation—to meet in a group setting over a common interest or activity, and that brings people a few steps closer to deepening their social and emotional connections.”
In stark contrast to earlier points during the pandemic, indoor events were more popular and accepted by Meetup organizers and members this year. By comparison, in 2020 seven out of 10 searches were for events that had been hosted outdoors.
