About The Palo Alto Wine Meetup Group

Palo Alto Daily News
Saturday Jan 5, 2008
Cyber schmoozing increasingly popular
By Mark Abramson / Daily News Staff Writer

Internet sites for schmoozing, such as Yahoo! groups, Meetup.com, Craigslist and
others, seem to be growing in popularity.

Stanford psychologist BJ Fogg attributed the trend to the increasing number of people
who have Internet access, and he said going online to find places and events to meet
people is becoming more socially acceptable.

"It's not just the geeks who are doing it anymore," said Fogg, who teaches courses on
creating applications for Facebook.com.

Fogg said although the sites make it easier to coordinate face-to-face meetings, a
dominant one, like what Google is to online search engines, has yet to emerge.

One example of how popular the sites have become is Palo Alto resident Gary
Daugenti's Palo Alto Wine Meetup Group. He started it in April, and it has grown to more
than 900 members. His events around the Bay Area can attract up to 100 people or as
few as 25 if they are being held in a private residence. An event can fill up within
minutes of it being posted and the notification e-mails being sent out to members, he
said.

The Wine Meetup Group has done a limousine tour of Napa and has rented out various
venues; Daugenti is now considering getting the members together for an event that
would raise money for charity.

"The more people you have, the more interesting events you can have," Daugenti said.
"We have people who come from Santa Cruz and Marin for our Meetups."
About a third of the typical Palo Alto wine group Meetup attendees are regulars,
Daugenti said. He said he has even heard that some of the members have started to
date each other.

Anjanette Bixel, 34, of Burlingame, is one of the masses who has joined Daugenti's
group. She found out about online groups on Craigslist earlier this year. The first one
she joined was a work-at-home mother's group.

Bixel, like other members of the online group scene, has joined other ones as well. She
has also signed up for fitness, cooking, a young professionals happy hour and about
seven other groups. She said she browses the Web periodically to find new groups that
may pique her interest, and she has also encouraged friends to check the groups out.

There are other groups for people who like to knit or play board games, fans of certain
teams and for a wide variety of other interests.

"I try to go to at least two a month," Bixel said. "It is part of my business plan. I've met
some really great people."

Bixel said that plan has netted her clients, and she has made friends through the
groups. She is a Realtor in Burlingame.

Organizations such as the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) have also
tapped into cyberspace to help their members stay connected to each other.

Members of the institute's Coalition for the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS)
may not have face-to-face meetings, but Facebook has made it easier for them to stay
in touch with each other, said Sheri Potter, the network project manager for the coalition.
Initially 10 members started using Facebook in November to stay connected, but within
an hour 200 members had signed on, and now 302 members are on the site.

"I like (to call it) community building," Potter said. "The scientific community has really
grabbed a hold of it as a way to network."