Skip to content

Can meetup apps help us make friends?

BBC Amy Rae smiling at the camera with a beach in the background. She is wearing a blue sweatshirt. BBC
Amy Rae has set up a Facebook group allowing people in Swansea to meet new friends

After regularly spending time in Swansea, away from her native Canada, Amy Rae said she felt "frustrated" by the difficulty of making new friends.

The 29-year-old often spends time with her boyfriend while he studies in Wales but said she struggles to find people with similar interests to her.

After beginning to document her efforts to meet people on TikTok, it was only after one of her videos went viral that Amy realised that she wasn't alone in how she was feeling.

“I was getting a bit frustrated because I found it difficult and I was like 'okay I have nothing to lose'," she said.

Amy posted videos of herself meeting strangers for sunset beach walks, visiting board game cafes and visiting a local art class.

"People thought the video of the art class was funny because it was a lot of elderly women in the group and I was unsuccessful in finding people," she said.

This was the video went viral, particularly with other young people who felt the same way as Amy.

"There were probably thousands of comments on that video alone of people saying they were struggling to make friends," said Amy. “I've never seen so much interest."

She then started a Facebook group for people going through the same experience as her, which has now grown to have thousands of members.

A general picture of a hand holding a smartphone with the Bumble symbol
Bumble BFF and Meetup are exclusively used for the purpose of making friends

Dedicated online groups encouraging people to step out of their comfort zone and meet other people are starting to grow in popularity, with apps such as Bumble BFF and Meetup exclusively used for the purpose of making friends.

Professor Andrea Wigfield, director of the centre for loneliness studies at the University of Sheffield, said she can see these apps become the norm in the same way dating apps have become.

"[You can have] connections with hundreds of people, but if you don't have that one meaningful relationship with somebody - you can feel lonely," she said.

In 2022, 49.63% of adults in the UK reported feeling lonely occasionally, sometimes, often or always, according to the Campaign to End Loneliness.

"Young people tend to lack confidence to go out and actually reach out and develop friendships, and even start conversations with other people," said Prof Wigfield.

"So I can see that online apps would facilitate that."

Swathi Padmanabhan smiling just at the right of the camera. She is wearing a dark green hoodie and is sitting in front of a brown and yellow wall.
Swathi Padmanabhan says the online group has helped her gain friends and improve her mental health

Swathi Padmanabhan, 25, who lives in Swansea but works from home, has joined Amy's Facebook group after struggling to make friends herself.

"I didn't know anyone when I moved here but now I've got an amazing group of people," she said.

“When I’m working from home it’s very draining, particularly by the end of the day because if you don’t have any meetings you don’t interact with people.

“Having someone to go out with and do something that’s not work is really good, especially from a mental health point of view."

Research by the Co-Op Foundation finds that 62% of lonely young people say that feeling lonely makes them lose confidence in themselves.

For Amy, meeting friends online has given her a way to reach a new community.

“I know lots of people are lonely, and it can be dark and rainy a lot of the year here. So it can be pretty miserable if you're just inside all the time, and have no one to do things with.

“It feels good to know that people are getting out there."