Jared Nissim

Social networking pioneer

Jared Nissim is a pioneer in the post dot-com Social Networking boom in New York City. He is the founder of 3 notable endeavors: The Lunch Club, Meet The Neighbors and Speed Friending.

The lunch club

In December 2001, Nissim began organizing lunch gatherings via craigslist with a motivation to find lunch companions. Nissim worked from home at the time as a corporate/technical writer, and primarily sought to meet others who had their daytimes free. After months of informal lunches and craigslist postings, a community network of hundreds of people formed. At first, members of the network referred to it as "The East Village Lunch Club" because Nissim kept his gatherings local to his neighborhood, Manhattan's East Village. In mid 2002, when Nissim formalized the club as an organization and established a website, he dropped "East Village" and left the name as "The Lunch Club." ( [http://www.thelunchclub.com] ). The Lunch Club has developed networks in New York City, Boston and Dublin, and currently has a membership of 15,000.

To date, the club has organized 1800 social gatherings of various kinds (50+ per month) and has been recognized by many major media outlets.

Meet the neighbors

In November 2004, Nissim launched a second social networking endeavor: Meet The Neighbors. ( [http://www.meettheneighbors.org] ), which functions as a local online tool for neighbors to organize among themselves on a grass roots level. To date, 2000+ apartment buildings and neighborhoods are registered on Meet The Neighbors. Local gatherings organized by building or neighborhood residents regularly take place across the country. Meet The Neighbors is one of the earliest forays into location-based social networking. ( [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/technology/22ecom.html] )

Speed friending

Nissim is the originator of a growing social networking activity called Speed Friending. After attending a speed dating event in 2003, Nissim adopted the format but changed the concept to fit in with The Lunch Club's mission to help people make friends. Instead of Speed Dating, he called it Speed Friending. The concept took off and was featured extensively in the media. Since then, the term Speed Friending has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary ( [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast/6042076.stm] ), and the idea continues to gain traction across the country.

Nissim continues to live in the East Village and primarily spends his time organizing and attending Lunch Club gatherings.

External links

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E05E6D7143CF931A25751C1A9659C8B63&scp=4&sq=jared+nissim&st=nyt New York Times article: The Links to Friendship - December 12, 2003]
* [http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/14/realestate/14post.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=letting+the+internet+knock+on+your+door&st=nyt&oref=slogin New York Times article: Letting the Internet Knock on the Door - November 14, 2004]
* [http://www.thelunchclub.com/index.php?page=wsjprint Wall Street Journal Article - Liven Up Your Day Life - August 19, 2003]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/apr/04/usa.topstories3 The Guardian Article - Fancy lunch? Great ... what's your name? - April 4 2006]
* [http://www.boston.com/yourlife/relationships/articles/2006/03/22/meet_on_the_menu/ The Boston Globe article - Meet on the menu - March 22, 2006]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1013241,00.html Time Magazine: Crossing the Virtual Street - Sep. 26, 2005]
* [http://www.newsweek.com/id/57212 Newsweek discusses Speed Friending]

External links

* [http://www.thelunchclub.com The Lunch Club]
* [http://www.meettheneighbors.org Meet The Neighbors]
* [http://www.speedfriending.com Speed Friending]