Meetup was founded in June 2002<ref name="Sifry CNN 2011">{{cite web | lastlast1=Sifry | firstfirst1=Micah | last2=CNN | first2=Special to | title=From Howard Dean to the tea party: The power of Meetup.com | website=CNN | date=November 7, 2011 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2011/11/07/tech/web/meetup-2012-campaign-sifry/index.html | access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref><ref name="knight" /> by Scott Heiferman and five co-founders.<ref name="Review">{{cite web | last=Review | first=MIT Technology | title=Innovator Under 35: Scott Heiferman, 32 | website=MIT Technology Review | url=http://www2.technologyreview.com/tr35/profile.aspx?TRID=151 | access-date=March 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Evans 2011">{{cite web | last=Evans | first=Teri | title=Meetup's Scott Heiferman on Connecting Communities | website=Entrepreneur | date=June 7, 2011 | url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219753 | access-date=March 14, 2018}}</ref> The idea for Meetup came from Heiferman meeting his neighbors in New York City for the first time after the September 11 attacks on the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|Twin Towers]].<ref name="Benz 2014">{{cite web | last=Benz | first=Kate | title=Pittsburgh Meetup members use the Internet to get off the Internet | website=TribLIVE.com | date=January 23, 2014 | url=http://triblive.com/lifestyles/morelifestyles/5356571-74/meetup-group-internet | access-date=March 14, 2018}}</ref><ref name="Washington Post 2011">{{cite web | first=Lavanya|last=Ramanathan|title=One week of Meetups | website=Washington Post | date=October 13, 2011 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/one-week-of-meetups/2011/09/27/gIQAFUUNhL_story.html | access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref> Heiferman was also influenced by the book [[Bowling Alone]],<ref name="fortune2003" /> which is about the deterioration of community in American culture.<ref name="Gordinier 2008 p. 161">{{cite book | last=Gordinier | first=J. | title=X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft But Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking | publisher=Viking | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-670-01858-1 | url=https://archive.org/details/xsavesworldhowg00gord | url-access=registration | access-date=March 14, 2018 | page=[https://archive.org/details/xsavesworldhowg00gord/page/161 161]}}</ref> Some initial funding for the venture was raised from friends and family, which was followed by a funding round with angel investors.<ref name="Jeffries 2011">{{cite web | last=Jeffries | first=Adrianne | title=The Long and Curious History of Meetup.com | website=Observer | date=January 21, 2011 | url=http://observer.com/2011/01/the-long-and-curious-history-of-meetupcom/ | access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref>

Meetup started charging a fee to group organizers in early 2005.<ref name="Troise 2015">{{cite web | last=Troise | first=Damian J. | title=Meetup Starts Charging Fee in Effort to Keep Users Involved | website=Inc.com | date=February 6, 2015 | url=https://www.inc.com/associated-press/meetup-starts-charging-fee-to-keep-users-involved.html | access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> Initially, changes to the website had to be approved by two committees.<ref name="Taylor 2009" /> In 2009, Meetup started running [[hackathon]]s, where employees came up with new features that would be implemented if their coworkers supported it.<ref name="Taylor 2009">{{cite web | last=Taylor | first=Chris | title=Meetup: An office where group anarchy works | website=CNNMoney | date=May 6, 2009 | url=https://money.cnn.com/2009/05/06/smallbusiness/democracy_at_meetup.fsb/ | access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref> The website was redesigned in 2013.<ref name="The Next Web 2013">{{cite web | title=Meetup Simplifies Its Member Homepage As It Pursues A Unified Design | website=The Next Web | date=September 12, 2013 | url=https://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/09/12/meetup-simplifies-its-homepage-to-reflect-its-mobile-only-strategy/ | access-date=March 15, 2018|first=Josh|last=Ong}}</ref> Meetup had 8 million users in 2010,<ref name="US News & World Report 2010">{{cite web |first=Angela|last= Haupt| date=December 13, 2010|title=Meetup.com Helps Connect Like-minded People | website=US News & World Report | url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/12/13/meetupcom-helps-connect-like-minded-people | access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> and 25.5 million users by 2013.<ref name="Lai Katz pp. 241–255">{{cite journal | lastlast1=Lai | firstfirst1=Chih-Hui | last2=Katz | first2=James E. | title=Volunteer associations in the Internet age: Ecological approach to understanding collective action | journal=The Information Society | volume=32 | issue=4 | date=May 31, 2016 | issn=0197-2243 | doi=10.1080/01972243.2016.1177761 | pages=241–255| s2cid=45348475 }}</ref>

Meetup was acquired by [[WeWork]] in late 2017 for about $156 million.<ref name="wired">{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/story/why-wework-is-buying-meetup/|publisher=WIRED|access-date=March 15, 2018|date=November 28, 2017|title=WeWork is Buying Meetup Amid an Increasingly Disconnected World|first=Jessi|last=Hempel }}</ref> WeWork spaces are predominantly used during work hours, while Meetup events take place mostly on evenings and weekends.<ref name="Hufford 2017">{{cite news | last=Hufford | first=Austen | title=WeWork to Buy Meetup, Targeting Off-Hours Gatherings | newspaper=Wall Street Journal | date=November 28, 2017 | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/wework-to-buy-meetup-targeting-off-hours-gatherings-1511880919 | access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> Some former employees said there was a 10% layoff after the acquisition.<ref name="Conger 2018">{{cite web | last=Conger | first=Kate | title=The Mess at Meetup | website=Gizmodo | date=February 16, 2018 | url=https://gizmodo.com/the-mess-at-meetup-1822243738 | access-date=June 15, 2018}}</ref> In 2018, Scott Heiferman stepped down as CEO and former [[Investopedia]] CEO [[David Siegel (executive)|David Siegel]] took his place. Heiferman became Chairman of the company.<ref name="TechCrunch 2018">{{cite web | title=Meetup CEO Scott Heiferman moves into chairman role | website=TechCrunch | date=July 17, 2018 | url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/17/meetup-ceo-scott-heiferman-moves-into-chairman-role/ | access-date=November 8, 2018}}</ref><ref name="TechCrunch 20182">{{cite web | title=WeWork-owned Meetup brings on David Siegel as CEO | website=TechCrunch | date=October 30, 2018 | url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/30/wework-owned-meetup-brings-on-david-siegel-as-ceo/ | access-date=November 8, 2018}}</ref> In October 2019, Meetup began to test a different pricing model in two US states,<ref name="Payment">{{cite web |last1=Siegel |first1=David |title=Payment test update |url=https://www.meetup.com/lp/paymentchanges?mpId=9038 |website=www.meetup.com |access-date=22 October 2019}}</ref> reducing the costs that must be paid by organizers of $23.99/month or $98.94/six months, but requiring users to pay a $2 fee in order to RSVP for events leaving several users angry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/15/20893343/meetup-users-furious-new-rsvp-payment-test|title=Meetup wants to charge users $2 just to RSVP for events — and some are furious|last=Deahl|first=Dani|date=2019-10-15|website=The Verge|language=en|access-date=2019-10-16}}</ref> In March 2020, WeWork sold Meetup to AlleyCorp and other investors, reportedly at a substantial loss.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/30/wework-sells-off-social-network-meetup-to-alleycorp-and-other-investors/|title = WeWork sells off social network Meetup to AlleyCorp and other investors}}</ref> The deal added AlleyCorp's [[Kevin P. Ryan]] onto Meetup's board.<ref name=":0" />

Meetup is an online service used to create groups that host local in-person and virtual events.<ref name="journal2">{{cite journal|title=The 2004 US Presidential campaign: Impact of hybrid offline and online 'meetup' communities|first1=Bruce|last1=Weinberg|first2=Christine|last2=Williams|journal=Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice|volume=8|issue=1|date=July–September 2006|pages=46–57|doi=10.1057/palgrave.dddmp.4340552|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Toledano 2017 pp. 597–604">{{cite journal | last=Toledano | first=Margalit | title=Emergent methods: Using netnography in public relations research |journal=Public Relations Review | volume=43 | issue=3 | year=2017 | issn=0363-8111 | doi=10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.03.007 | pages=597–604}}</ref> As of 2017, there are about 35 million Meetup users.<ref name="Vynck 2017">{{cite web | last=Vynck | first=Gerrit De | title=WeWork Buys Meetup to Bring People Together Outside of Work | website=Bloomberg.com | date=November 28, 2017 | url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-28/wework-to-buy-meetup-a-social-network-to-connect-hobbyists | access-date=March 17, 2018}}</ref> Each user can be a member of multiple groups or RSVP for any number of events.<ref name="Zhang Lv 2018 pp. 19–29">{{cite journal | lastlast1=Zhang | firstfirst1=Shuo | last2=Lv | first2=Qin | title=Hybrid EGU-based group event participation prediction in event-based social networks | journal=Knowledge-Based Systems | volume=143 | year=2018 | issn=0950-7051 | doi=10.1016/j.knosys.2017.12.002 | pages=19–29}}</ref> Users are usually using the website to find friends, share a hobby, or for professional networking.<ref name="Zhang Lv 2018 pp. 19–29" /> Meetup users do not have "followers" or other direct connections with each other like on other social media sites.<ref name="Zhang Lv 2018 pp. 19–29" />

Meetup users self-organize into groups.<ref name="Zhang Lv 2018 pp. 19–29" /> As of 2017, there are about 225,000 Meetup groups in 180 countries.<ref name="Toledano 2017 pp. 597–604" /> Each group has a different topic, size, and rules.<ref name="journal" /><ref name="Toledano 2017 pp. 597–604" /> Groups are associated with one of 30+ categories and any number of more than 18,000 tags that identify the group's theme.<ref name="Zhang Lv 2018 pp. 19–29" /> The most popular categories are "adventure and outdoor activities, career and business, and parents and family."<ref name="journal">{{cite journal|title=Facilitating community networks: Public relations skills and non-professional organizers| first1=Margalit|last1=Toledano |first2=Alexander| last2=Maplesden |journal=Public Relations Review|date=May 24, 2016|volume=42|issue=4|pages=713–722|doi=10.1016/j.pubrev.2016.04.005}}</ref> Most events are on a structured schedule each week or month at a local venue,<ref name="Toledano 2017 pp. 597–604" /> typically on evenings or weekends,<ref name="Zhang Lv 2018 pp. 19–29" /> though more and more events are being held virtually with a pivot to allowing online events as a reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic. Between March and October of 2020, Meetup had hosted more than one million online events.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/one-million-meetup-events-hosted-online-301160106.html|title = One Million Meetup Events Hosted Online}}</ref>