Alternatives to meetup.com (free)

[mdh]

I've setup a local group on facebook.com; looks like an easy and free alternative to using meetup.com. It also appears that facebook has a much larger existing community than meetup does, but I could be wrong on that. Thoughts?

[Bradley in DC]

facebook.com is very popular (almost exclusively?) with students.

[DjLoTi]

I think Facebook has major potential to appeal to the 'coolness' factor of Ron Paul.

[mdh]

I dunno, but the design of the site is non-offensive compared to myspace (which I find 99% of myspace to be obnoxious in the design department.)
I signed up for facebook and made the whole group thing, etc, and it wasn't too much of a hassle, and never asked me for money. Ads are unintrusive, profile content is controlled enough that you don't have blindingly-lame 'themes', and there isn't an intrusive amount of flash.

[ARealConservative]

When I started my local group with meetup - 6 people were waiting for an official membership. Just an fYI - I have doubled our numbers to 12. Considering I sent out 5000 flyers so far - I was hoping for more activists

Out of curiousity I just did the same today on facebook - nobody from my area was signed up.

So - basically - individual mileage will vary - meetup is hotter in my community - facebook was a non-factor.

[UtahApocalypse]

getting the word out anywhere and everywhere is great. However, meetup.com is what the campaign is officially monitoring and using. I would suggest you join it as well as any other sites.

[mdh]

My main problem with meetup.com is that they demand $19/month. There are people who claim to want it, but at the same time, Pittsburgh meetup has a bunch of people signed up and few who show. I'm not ready to plunk down another $228 per year for something that may end up with very few people actually showing. Pittsburgh has a lot higher population than my area does, too, but unfortunately they scheduled theirs for a Tuesday night when I'd have no possibility of driving up there and back. And anyways, I'd much rather see that $228/year going to the campaign and CHQ using facebook.com instead. Seems like a much better value for everyone involved, from my perspective - $228/year from that many people ain't so shabby in the world of campaign finance!

[denvervoipguru]

We started our MeetUp group (http://ronpaul.meetup.com/26/) on May 7th
As of May 31 we had 62 members
Today we have 68
We've had 4 meetups
1st meetup: 8 attendees
2nd meetup: 30 attendees
3rd (very short notice): 8 attendees
4th: 20 attendees


The only advertising I did was a few FREE ads on Craigslist; here's one of them (http://denver.craigslist.org/grp/326761968.html).

TIPS: Make sure you post feedback on the meetings, people look at that to see if the meetings are fun/waste of time, etc.

I wish there were a free service that worked as well as MeetUP, but there is not.

You may not know:
Ron Paul has more meetup groups than any other candidate by a LONG SHOT!

Ron Paul 2008
203 Meetup Groups
Draft Al Gore
104 Meetup Groups
Barack Obama
65 Meetup Groups
John Kerry
46 Meetup Groups
John Edwards / One America
42 Meetup Groups
Dennis Kucinich
40 Meetup Groups
Hillary Rodham Clinton
30 Meetup Groups
Wesley Clark
7 Meetup Groups
Draft Mark Warner
6 Meetup Groups
George W. Bush
4 Meetup Groups
Badnarik for Congress
3 Meetup Groups
Draft Fred Thompson for President
2 Meetup Groups
Ralph Nader
2 Meetup Groups
Draft Russ Feingold
2 Meetup Groups
John McCain
2 Meetup Groups

[libertysilver]

Where did you post that Meetup ad on Craigs list, that's a great idea.

Also what did the ad say? The link doesn't work.

You have a lot of people now. I want to try that approach

[skyorbit]

Where did you post that Meetup ad on Craigs list, that's a great idea.

Also what did the ad say? The link doesn't work.

You have a lot of people now. I want to try that approach

Yeah. I've heard of others advertising ron Paul on Craigslist. How do they do that?

Tracy

[eme7Fipa]

There is a new free alternative to meetup.com: Group-O-Matic (http://www.groupomatic.com) at groupomatic.com (http://www.groupomatic.com)

From their site: "Group-O-Matic helps local groups & clubs start, get members, and schedule events. Our service is free, private, and simple."

Start a club or group: http://www.groupomatic.com/new.pl

Group-O-Matic Tour: http://www.groupomatic.com/product_tour.html

[skyorbit]

Sioux Falls for Congressman Ron Paul for President.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4851629390

Tracy

[NoxTwilight]

I'm with mdh - I can't afford to pay that right now. I worry about a lot of promises from people with little actual action - seems to be common at least in my area of California.

I think I will try the Group-O-Matic and Facebook too and if the interest for my area brings in enough people and they agree to help with the fee then we'll take it over to meetup.

Thanks for the info !

[openmeetup]

I've setup a local group on facebook.com; looks like an easy and free alternative to using meetup.com. It also appears that facebook has a much larger existing community than meetup does, but I could be wrong on that. Thoughts?

facebook is usually a good choice, but your advertising potetial is limited to your friends, who may be upset because of your sharing political messages.

[openmeetup]

There is a new free alternative to meetup.com: Group-O-Matic at groupomatic.com

I could not find any meetups there :(

[openmeetup]

Ron Paul 2008
203 Meetup Groups
Draft Al Gore
104 Meetup Groups
Barack Obama
65 Meetup Groups
John Kerry
46 Meetup Groups
John Edwards / One America
42 Meetup Groups
Dennis Kucinich
40 Meetup Groups
Hillary Rodham Clinton
30 Meetup Groups
Wesley Clark
7 Meetup Groups
Draft Mark Warner
6 Meetup Groups
George W. Bush
4 Meetup Groups
Badnarik for Congress
3 Meetup Groups
Draft Fred Thompson for President
2 Meetup Groups
Ralph Nader
2 Meetup Groups
Draft Russ Feingold
2 Meetup Groups
John McCain
2 Meetup Groups

how did you get this information? it would be interesting to check it again at the next election.

[openmeetup]

hey, we are working on an open source & free alternative to meetup.com (http://openmeetup.net), you can check it out at http://openmeetup.net. all your feedback is welcome.