Moving, starting a new job and finding corporate housing can carry a lot of anxiety and worry along with the excitement it brings when trying to build new connections in a new city. A great way to get involved in your new community is to join local community groups and become active on website’s that bring likeminded people together.
Some great website’s that do just that are meetup.com, couchsurfing.org and yelp.com.
Couchsurfing.org
CouchSurfing is an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. Since 2004, members have been using the system to come together for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences. Today, over a million people who might otherwise never meet are able to share hospitality and cultural understanding.
CouchSurfing members share hospitality with one another. These exchanges are a uniquely rich form of cultural interaction. Hosts have the opportunity to meet people from all over the world without leaving home. “Surfers,” or travelers, are able to participate in the local life of the places they visit. We also give more people the chance to become travelers, because “surfing” lowers the financial cost of exploration.
Meetup.com
Meetup is the world’s largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.
Meetup’s mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.
Yelp.com
Yelp was founded in 2004 to help people find great local businesses like dentists, hair stylists and mechanics. As of December 2009, more than 26 million people have visited Yelp. Yelpers have written over 9 million local reviews, over 85% of them rating a business 3 stars or higher. In addition to reviews, you can use Yelp to find events, special offers, lists and to talk with other Yelpers. Every business owner (or manager) can setup a free account to post offers, photos and message his or her customers.