Meetup.com, co-founded by NYC-based entrepreneur Scott Heiferman, first exploded in popularity during the early days of the Howard Dean campaign as a way for like-minded individuals to unite around a common cause, have a few drinks and maybe contribute a few bucks to the Internet-friendly Mr. Dean. (Check out this New York Times article from March 2003 featuring young hipsters heading down to the Lower East Side for a Meetup). What was amazing about these early meet-ups was that many of these events were only organized on an ad hoc basis -- sometimes even the very location was not known until a few hours before the event. Since then, Meetup.com groups have formed around nearly every conceivable interest in communities across the nation.

Now that some of the early excitement about Meetup.com has faded, Corante's Stowe Boyd shares some insights from Tom Sander on the implications of the Meetup phenomenon for social networking and emergent democracy. Based on a research study conducted in several U.S. cities, Sander found "low stickiness" for Meetup groups: "Even when people were positive, half or two thirds might not come back. There is a lot of turnover, even with well established meetups." On the other hand, Meetup groups are successful from a "social capital" perspective: "On average, 30% of the people do something outside the meetup with people they met there. 30% found new friends, 23% found 2 or more."