In mid-May, 23-year-old Marisa Mayis went to an Eastern village for dinner with a friend, and her phone rang. She tried to keep quiet, but the articles kept coming. Everyone wanted to know – did you see the video of the tick?
Clicking on the link, a young man appeared on the screen. “If your name is Marisa, please listen,” he said. He said he heard some friends say that he was deliberately choosing to have a birthday party when he was out of town that weekend. “You need to know,” he said. Tiktok, help me find Marisa.
Mrs. Meis was heartbroken. After meeting the person who posted the video, which has more than 14 million views, she confirmed that it was Marisa in question and that it was a friend who had conspired to exclude her from the party.
Her feelings hurt. But instead of being oppressed, Ms. Mayis decided to do something about it. She went to TikTok to explain that the video was about her. The response was immediate. “Let Friends Be Friends Immediately!” They started sending messages. “Cheat on your old friends”
The story of Ms. Mayis is captured because the Coronavirus epidemic has dramatically changed relations. After a lack of physical interaction, some old friendships have disappeared and people have created many online relationships to alleviate loneliness. After that, Ms. Meiss summed up those changes and blurred to create something new in the online and offline worlds – and fun.
In the days leading up to the show, Ms. Meis, a costume designer, received over 5,000 messages. Invite guests to their birthday parties, indoor and wedding ceremonies. They asked if they could set up a mailbox for some pen pals living outside of New York City. Thousands – especially generals and millennials – seem to be hungry for new relationships as summer begins and coronavirus restrictions rise.
“Okay, how can I help people?” She said.
Answer: Mrs. Meis decided to hold a meeting.
In June, Ms. Meiz posted a tweet telling anyone looking for new friends to meet at Central Park on Saturday. The video was spread by a virus. 200 were in attendance. They laughed, played, talked and bonded for more than eight hours.
The event was such a success, Ms. Mayz said no one in the online community wanted to make friends in real life, or no one across the country.
Ms. Mayis has since held meetings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, and more. Events are free and open to anyone. Despite the public outcry, hundreds of participants of all ages attended the event as word of events spread through the TKK “for you” page, powered by the app’s advice algorithm.
“Everyone once felt lonely or lonely,” says 24-year-old Max Grauer, who attended a convention. At the end of the month, there are locksmiths, new people, and new faces.
More lonely friends meetings are a recent example of online relationships that can be transformed into real life events during the epidemic. In May, thousands of teenagers gathered in Huntington Beach, California, after the 17-year-old’s birthday party was broadcast on TikTok. YouTubers, TikTokers, and live streamers went out to post articles about him. . Eventually, riots broke out and police stormed in, arresting 150 people and declaring a state of emergency.
Mrs. Mizz’s efforts were not in vain. She said she would try to greet all participants and make contact with them. She travels from group to group so that no one is left alone. To help break the ice and cover event costs, Ms. Meis began selling merchandise, including T-shirts that read, “We must be friends if you read this.”
“It’s great to have friends, so everyone seems to be already friends, but in reality everyone is alone,” she said.
Many attendees get in touch quickly. A large group from the Los Angeles meeting met for a beach trip next weekend and launched a group discussion on Instagram to plan future trips.
Some people have attended many meetings. Makena Misurako, a 26-year-old Philadelphia mental health consultant, recently traveled to New York City to attend a Friendship Loan event. Ms. Maez explained that she was ostracized by her friends, and that Ms. Meiz then took the experience and turned it into something positive on the Internet.
“Social media can be a very bad place for people,” she said. From now on, friends will “bring all the people in the same boat to make friends and seek out good people. When you go there, you know that everyone wants to be friends. ”
Giovanni Daniels, a 25-year-old New York singer, learned of the incident at Ticket and said that he had attended all three meetings in the city.
“You don’t know who to contact,” he said. “Every demographic structure is there. I met people in their 50’s and early teens. ”The main audience is in their late teens and early 20s, and they will be“ from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. ”
Ms. Meis is planning more meetings in American cities, and she hopes that when the epidemic subsides, it will spread worldwide. Although not just friends, the events attracted interest from brands. This month, representatives from Arizona ice tea showed up to a meeting with free drinks and merchandise.
Ms. Mayis said she was following up on the latest treatment for coronavirus caused by the delta in the delta. For security reasons, she only keeps arrangements outdoors.
“I’m inspecting the cities, going to vaccination rates and things are still open and I’m not doing anything illegal,” he said. I always keep everyone safe and everyone is comfortable.
As the meetings progressed, some logistics became more complicated. One Sunday Sunday, it attracted more than 600 people in Central Park for more than eight hours.
“I looked up and said, ‘I don’t need a license unless I have a desk or a speaker.’ “We only gather a group of people. But we are talking to people about licenses and things to make sure. ”
The community also grows online. People will no longer need hashtag friends and hashtag comments to reconnect with the people they meet or discuss the next event.
At a recent Central Park meeting, Ms. Meis was calm and courageous. As people gathered in groups, some joined in and greeted new friends. Someone pulled out his acoustic guitar and played under a tree. They played other card games or volleyball. Some of them ate snacks on holiday blankets.
On one occasion, as she was being held for Tiktok, Ms. Maez picked up the phone and looked up at the cheering crowd behind her. Ms. Meis, who did not speak to her ex-boyfriends at a birthday party, says she now has more than enough new friends.
“Now it’s a big family,” she says.