Online company brings together like-minded fans

By Chris Marlowe

Fans of "Xena: Warrior Princess," "The Lord of the Rings" and other franchises are getting together to share their obsession every month. These meetings are coordinated through Meetup, a young online company that makes it easy for people to locally connect, in the real world, around shared topics of interest.

There are more than 100,000 registered members and 700-plus topics listed on Meetup. Events are held in more than 500 locales throughout 27 countries. The vast majority of the locales are in the United States.

"'Xena' is hugely popular," Meetup spokesman Myles Weissleder said. "So are 'Star Trek' and 'Lord of the Rings,' with TechTV and Radiohead growing fast."

The service is free, and there are no advertisements. Weissleder said that Meetup makes its money from venues -- ranging from bookstores and coffee shops to big pet stores and game arcades -- which can pay to be listed as a potential meeting place. There's no guarantee that anyone will vote to hold the meeting there, but if it is chosen, the venue then pays an additional fee per attendee.

According to Weissleder, the company already has been approached by promoters looking to connect with fans, but Meetup is avoiding commercial sponsorships rather than risk spoiling the grass-roots atmosphere of the events. "We're more interested in providing this platform for any company that wants to facilitate people gathering," he said. "It's an easy way to get hundreds of people together."

Meetup went live about six months ago and recently received an undisclosed amount of venture capital funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

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