Back in high school, being a computer enthusiast may have earned you an empty spot at the lunch table. But today, students like Chris Kaufman are finding that a few strokes on your laptop can be the ticket to a great night out.
Kaufman, a third-year sociology student, creates social networks online through a Web site called Meetup.com. The network’s topics encompass all subjects and range from eccentric nightlife to Los Angeles culture to urban sports like bowling, pool and darts. What started out as a fun sociology experiment and hobby for Kaufman is revolutionizing the way people interact and communicate with each other in a social environment.
“It’s a really incredible thing,” Kaufman said. “It brings people together who would not necessarily know there are others who exist and have the same interest. There are goth groups. There are fetish groups. There are vampire groups, people who just like to cuddle. It’s all the gamut, and because this technology exists, they now have a social network.”
The site is similar to Web sites like Facebook or Myspace except members sign up for events that they are interested in with the purpose of meeting up with the group. It’s like online dating, except for making friends, and according to Kaufman, it’s solving the problem of social anxiety.
“It provides a safety net where a host-organizer, such as myself, makes sure that the person or people who come into the group are introduced and people are talking to them. The people who come to this are all open to make new friends so everyone is kind of on the same level,” he said.
Jason Knight, UCLA Extension student and Kaufman’s assistant organizer for his most recent group Dive Bar Adventures Inc., believes that these groups break the myth that technology disconnects people and discourages human contact.
“I think it’s bringing the nerds out of their houses,” Knight said. “It’s an excuse for people with really specific interests to meet each other, and it’s a lot easier to talk to people and meet people that way than if you were just to go to an event on your own.”
Kaufman started creating these groups six months ago and now manages six groups through Meetup.com (The limit for one account is three, so Kaufman has two accounts).
His dive bar group lets members meet up at eccentric local bars and avoid the infamous “velvet ropes” of the Los Angeles nightlife.
“The reason we started Dive Bar is because everyone hates velvet ropes, but everyone likes to go out, socialize and have a drink,” he said. “A dive bar is a bar that has it’s own unique subculture that in the darkness of alcohol and dim lights has created its own vibe. You would never go in by yourself because you’d be a separate person from all the locals.”
Kaufman’s most popular group contains over 400 members. The group, Culture Sponges, takes people to cultural events around Los Angeles including theater performances, ethnic dinners and art museums.
Kaufman came up with Culture Sponges as a result of a group he and his friends had in high school called Culture Slobs, which celebrated both arts and laid-back living.
“We would do things like buy a whole bunch of candy, sit in the back row, take off our shoes and eat candy while watching opera. The idea was (that) we were slobs, but we wanted to do culturally sophisticated things,” he said.
Victoria Hughot, fourth-year world arts and cultures student, joined Culture Sponges because the group members appeared wacky and easygoing.
“I liked the fact that they weren’t really taking themselves too seriously and weren’t professing to be cultural gurus or experts,” she said after commenting on the online photos the members had posted. “They just seemed like they wanted to go out and have fun, and the places that they go are places that I like going as well.”
Although a stigma is often attached to the idea of meeting people online, Hughot believes that this form of socializing is becoming natural to our extremely virtual society.
“Given the amount of time that we spend at the computer, it just seems like a natural next step. It’s just another way to bring people together,” she said.
And while college is a social network in and of itself, Kaufman believes that UCLA students can use this technology to expand their existing social circle and become more involved in their surrounding community.
“You shouldn’t be limited just by the people you know on your floor,” he said. “The cool thing about this, whether you go to my group or you go to other groups, is it really builds social skills. The days of the debutante are gone, and so this is a real great way to make friends outside your typical circle. It’s really important to get out and not just talk about it and study it but actually do it.”