Interpersonal Communication

1. How does the tool relate to the topic of the week?
The tool that we used that relates to the topic of the week is meetup.com. This is a website that allows people to create profiles based on what they enjoy doing. It lets people find other people in their area who share the same interests. meetup.com relates to interpersonal communication because people can meet others and have face to face communication and people can meet in groups and have group conversations.

2. What functions does the tool serve?
Meetup.com serves as a way people in a certain area can meet online and face to face. People join groups depending on their interests. For example, some groups may include dancing, games, outdoor activities, and fishing. These were some of the most common groups that I found around the Quad Cities area. When people join these groups dates are set for everyone in that group to meetup and do whatever activity they all enjoy. This is why it's called meetup.com

3. What did you find most interesting about the tool?
There are many interesting things about meetup.com, but the thing that I found most interesting is that meetup not only allows people to meet face to face, but encourages it. This is what sets meetup apart from other top social media tools like facebook, twitter, and pinterest. Instead of just giving ideas for things meetup allows people to meet each other and show them what they love to do. Meetup.com allows people to find others who are interested in the same things that they are. I think that this is a great thing because it encourages people to be social with each other and not just sit in front of a computer and talk with text.

4. What did you find most challenging?
When I first visited meetup.com i thought that the layout was a little confusing, but after using it more I found it very easy to use. When you join a group, you are told how many people are also in the group with you. The thing that I found most difficult about meetup was the upcoming events tab and the calendar tab. I thought that the layout of the upcoming events tab was just awkwardly set up. When you click on the event it says recent events that took place and I found it confusing to really know which event was the actual event. Depending on who creates the events and calendar, the setup can be very confusing. Some of the groups that I tried looking at had nothing on their calendar, but had a lot on their upcoming events. In others I found the calendar very easy to use and all the events were accurate with the upcoming events.

5. How does the tool help or complicate communication?
I believe that meetup.com helps communication and doesn't hurt it. Like I said before meetup.com allows people to meet each other based on similar interests. I would say that meetup hurts communication if it didn't allow people to meet face to face. I think that meeting people in person and not having a relationship based entirely online is the best way to communicate. This is what meetup.com allows people to do.

6. What is your critique of your experience?
I enjoyed looking through meetup.com and I thought that it was a great social media tool that allowed people to meet based on interests. I think that the tool is setup great other than the few problems that I described earlier. Some of the groups that i tried joining weren't set up very well by the creator. You just have to find the right group and I'm sure that you will really enjoy your experience. In the end I think that meetup.com is a great social media tool. Depending on your interests you will find other people in your area that appreciate the same things that you do.