The Coming Social Curation Wave

The Gerret is a mildly famous “hidden bar” in Manhattan. Known for being atop a Five Guys in Greenwich Village and only accessible by a staircase within the Five Guys. I’m upstairs along with 4 other friends. Of them, 3 I had only met that night and two are new to the city by just a few weeks. Our fun here is the by-product of a service called Greet.

What is Greet? The quick and easy answer is “dinner with strangers.” Each week (or less if we prefer) we get set-up with new people to chat with over dinner. It’s all very turnkey, the times and locations are all planned out by Greet staff. All we have to do is select a few options for time and geographic availability and the rest is done for us. The Greet service has taken off in NYC (currently the only city it’s available in) and has spread to hundreds of regular users in a year’s time.

Jon on the left hosts an “after party” in which we attempt to devour a bowl of pudding after seeing the movie Love, Simon. Jon started the NYC Moviepass Moviegoers group just a few weeks ago and it has already surpassed 170 members. The pudding after party was pre-planned by Jon.

Tonight we were placed at Suprema Provisions on Bleecker street. While these “Greets” can often end after just a couple hours, we’re encouraged to continue the night if people are interested. I suggested the Gerret as it was just around the corner and we all headed over for an hour of drinks and more talk after our meal.

Monil (way in the back) chats with some friends from Greet at an unofficial hang-out he planned for over a dozen of us. Shuffleboard at Royal Palms in Brooklyn.

American culture has in very recent years valued isolation and individualism above all else, hailing only achievement and perfectly optimized use of our time. That tide is starting to turn, we’re starting to realize the negative effects this has and just how valuable socializing really is. The problem is, we let our socializing skills lapse so much that we no longer know how to make it happen. For example, searching for “How to make friends after college” returns 77 million results in Google. The first page full of “10 ways to…” sites, one after another. Clearly, this has become an endemic condition. It’s not that we’re lazy but we’re human. We’re afraid of rejection or sometimes just lack the skills. I know good food when I taste it, but that doesn’t make me a chef.

To fill this need, we’re starting to see a wave of “social services” (so to speak) popping up. It started with some simple stuff like Shapr (which is more for networking) and Bumble BFF. However, we’re now seeing some services that lean towards building the experience itself. It’s also very different than networking. Way different. With networking, the focus is the topic and everything is small talk. I personally can’t stand it, the introverted part of me comes out in full force and just wants to wallflower all night.

Even churches are seeing the need. C3 Brooklyn has targeted community as one of it’s top goals for the city. The church now hosts over 50 “dinner parties” every week in NYC. Simply fill out a form with your neighborhood and you’ll be invited the following Wednesday. Mine above poses for a selfie at the end of the night.

Given all this, I’m foreseeing more of these types of services to start popping up. They’ll begin in the denser cities for sure but they will eventually go more national and international. I also see them becoming somewhat niche, like the Moviepass group shown above. Meetup.com is already full of board game groups. These social groups will continue to grow but I expect entire services (ex. Greet) to show up more.