ISSUE
Friday, May 2, 2025
Volume 16 . Issue 57
With the rapid increase of new media technologies, more Kiwis are signing up to online platforms that help arrange interest-specific meet ups.
Auckland University social psychology PhD student, Yuthika Girme, says the trend of planned get-togethers with strangers is growing in popularity as more people use technology and meet up websites to connect and mingle.
“Back in the day who you knew and who you hung out with would be people from your social community, church, school networks and family friends, but I think now people are wanting to expand their social networks and meet and interact with people that they wouldn’t usually be able to.”
Miss Girme says the proliferation of the Internet and mobile devicesare now increasingly turning into a tool for people with shared interests to meet in person, in the real world.
Wellington based self-proclaimed foodie Lucy Mutch is one of six co-organisers of the city’s most popular food based meet up group, The Wellington Foodies.Ms Mutch started the group in 2010 as a way to meet new people and soon joined forces with five other food enthusiasts to create an ongoing six events per month, one each hosted by each enthusiast. The events include monthly foodie book clubs, movie nights based around food and cooking classes and are often free or encourage a potluck format.
Ms Mutch says social media has played an instrumental role in organisingthe meet ups:“I have a constant dialogue with the followers. They contact me suggesting new restaurants or movies that we can set up an event around. It has also allowed a platform for us to speak to the masses.”
Glow in the dark meet up coordinator and yoga instructor, Gemma Hogan, says she thinks humans are longing to meet new people in the digital age and meet ups are enabling “strangers to forge communities”.
“I think people are more curious to try something out and give it a go. It is using the technology to connect with people and meet new people that share interests that some people may not be comfortable sharing with the people they know,” Ms Hogan says.
She monthly meets up on full moon nights where she provides glow in the dark stickers to her attendees to encourage conversation.
“It’s yoga but it’s community. You’re giving people an opportunity to come together, and participate in something very holistic and natural and just to connect with people.”
Ms Hogan says she usually gets around 25 to 30 attendees each month and also conducts weekly yoga sessions that end with a movie and tea session every Sunday.
Several meet up websites and apps are available. One of the most popular is Meetup.com that has more than 22 million users worldwide and, according to the website, an average of 400 meet ups take place in Auckland.
Co-organiser for a tai chi meet up group, Alice Chan, says the popularity of the meet ups has spread through word of mouth.Mrs Chan’s tai chi group meets every Saturday, if the weather permits, at One Tree Hill, in Auckland, where a group of some 30 people congregate to learn the ancient Chinese exercise regimen that is believed to enhance wellness.
English practicing meet up group organiser, Rodrigo Feitosa, originally from Brazil started his group after his regular English meet up group suddenly discontinued one day.
“I don’t speak English in Brazil because they mock up if you don’t speak [well]. I have no choice [but] to speak it here. People are friendly [here]. When I first got here I was depressed because I didn’t have friends and was new to everything—the language. So I went to [an] English meet up group and really enjoyed [it] but [they] never meet again so I decide to make my own group.”
There are a number of other language-learning meet up groups including Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish and French in Auckland.
Mr Feitosa says many of these groups meet regularly in downtown cafes and the members tend to be new migrants and long-stay visitors keen to share their knowledge of languages of their countries of origin.There are at least 21 Meetup groups in Auckland that are dedicated to developing language skills.
Ms Mutch, of Wellington Foodies, says since she has been organising meet ups she has only encountered two negative experiences.
“I stipulate in our rules that we’re not a dating site and people should only join if they’re interested in food—so there’ve been a couple of instances of men where they’ve tried to contact or instigate relationships with female members that they’ve been to an event with.
“But I’ve got a blanket policy on throwing people out immediately and if they go too far I’ll have no hesitation in contacting the police.”
Mrs Chan, of the tai chi group, says two of her friends experienced similar negative encounters at meet ups.
“Sometimes people signup for [the] wrong class. They want to look for partners but [they] go into eastern philosophy or something and make other people feel a bit uncomfortable.”
Glow in the Dark’s Ms Hogan says she has not heard or experienced any off-putting incidents.
“There’s not a great deal to be lost, there is more to be gained because you can find something interesting, exciting or try something and know that it’s not for you,” Ms Hogan says.
Miss Girme says meet ups are just like any other social interaction. “Experiences with people vary as much as the people themselves,” she adds.
“At the end of the day we all want the same thing out of a relationship. We want people to hang out with, to share interests with, to get support from and have people encourage us.
“All of those things haven’t changed but how we’re meeting people is changing,” Miss Girme says.