Experiences is the easiest way to do something awesome with your friends. We help you discover, plan, and pay for the amazing experiences you’ll always remember.
This past July, we were excited to introduce the private Beta version of something we’ve been working on all year: Experiences by GroupMe, the easiest way to do something awesome with your friends. Today, we’re thrilled to announce the public launch of Experiences in New York City.
It’s been a completely amazing summer, developing this new project with the help of our GroupMe users and their friends from all corners of the New York area. We’ve helped groups of friends go on all manner of adventures from hang-gliding and zip-lining to comedy, hip hop and cabaret, to cooking classes, luxury picnics, and special wine tastings. And, thanks so much to all our users for your feedback over the past three months. We’ve just added two of our most requested features: An optimized mobile web view — a better way to buy things on the go on your mobile device — and, for some Experiences, variable group sizes so you can choose how many friends to bring along.
This week on Experiences, you and yours can discover, plan, and split the bill for everything from an exclusive designer dress-up party replete with champagne, hors d’oeuvres and a personal stylist at the brand new Rent The Runway showroom, to ogling some never-before-exhibited works at the Guggenheim’s Picasso Black and White exhibit followed by an artful meal at the Wright. Explore more on Experiences, and find us on Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter for Experiences updates, recommendations, and giveaways, and more.
Experiences is excited to grow, collaborate with awesome partners, and develop new technologies to make sure group planning will be as fun and easy as it’s ever been, but our core goal will stay constant: We look forward to helping make the moments you and your friends share in the real world as fun, carefree, and plentiful as possible.
GroupMe at SXSW
That’s right—Team GroupMe is headed back to Austin next week for another awesome weekend at SXSW Interactive. We’ve got so much to share with everyone so without further ado, here’s a few announcements about what we’re planning this year:
Start your SXSW group now!
If you were at SXSW last year, you already know that GroupMe is the perfect way to stay in touch with your crew on the ground in Austin. It’s that time again—start your group now to help you start planning, and you can keep using it to share notes on the best parties, events, and happenings when you’re hanging out in Austin next week.
Plus, if you start your group on our special SXSW featured page, or from the Featured tab in the app, you’ll receive some exclusive info and updates in your group, and you’ll also be entered to win VIP tickets to our party. More on that later. #)
Major Rager Part Deux
The Major Rager is back. Last year, we had a really fun time at Cedar Street Courtyard, celebrating the end of a great weekend. This year, we’re pumping up the volume for an even bigger party.
The party is co-sponsored by Serve from American Express, and features DJ sets from The Hood Internet, Nancy Whang (of LCD Soundsystem), and COMA (Kompakt Records, Ger) in their U.S. premiere.
It’s going to be amazing. RSVP here.
GroupMe Grill
It’s back, and better than ever! GroupMe users can hang out, eat free grilled cheese, and drink free beer at the GroupMe Grill, right across from the convention center. It’s on Trinity and 3rd, and we’ll be there from 12-5 p.m. on March 10-12. Come by! We can’t wait to see you. Lots of improvements from last year, and maybe a few surprises, are in store…
We’ve got more to announce very soon—stay tuned! In the meantime, start your group and we’ll see you in Austin!
GroupMe for Windows Phone
It’s back and better than ever! Today, we’re thrilled to announce a completely revamped version of our GroupMe app for Windows Phone. We’ve been working closely with our new parent company, Microsoft, on developing this app, and we think the result is the best way to chat with everyone you know from your Windows Phone.

The GroupMe experience you know and love has been translated to the functionality and design of the Mango OS and Metro design framework, so the app will feel native to seasoned Windows Phone users. Start groups, send direct messages, share photos, and check out featured groups just like on our other smartphone apps—it’s all here.

But that’s not all! There are some great new features that take advantage of the new Mango OS. GroupMe has fast app switching enabled, live tile notifications of new messages, and syncs with the Windows Phone address book. Plus, you can pin a specific group to start, giving you fast access to the groups you access most often—and the tile updates with new messages and photos.

We think you’ll love this new app, and can’t wait for you to try it! It’s available for free in the Windows Marketplace, so download it now and let us know what you think!
GroupMe 3.0 for BlackBerry
It’s finally here!
A few weeks ago, iPhone and Android users were treated to our 3.0 update, bringing Questions, Direct Messages, and a new visual style to the core GroupMe experience. Today, we’re thrilled to bring that same awesome experience to the BlackBerry.
On the new app, users can create new groups and questions with people in their address book, as well as other people they know on GroupMe. With the new API, users should notice a faster feel to the overall app experience. 
The UI has been completely overhauled, from the list of chats to your list of contacts and much more. There’s a new ribbon of buttons at the top of the app that lets you start a group, Question, or Direct Message quickly, just like in our other apps. Picture sharing and downloading is much faster. It now works on BlackBerry OS 7.

Basically, everything is faster, prettier and easier to use. You’re going to love it.
Get GroupMe 3.0 now in App World.
Or, download it directly to your BlackBerry here.
Dearest GroupMe Groupies,
We have very exciting news to share. Today, we have entered into an agreement to be acquired by Skype. Over the last few months, we had been in talks with Skype that started with discussions about potential commercial partnerships. As we got to know the core Skype team better, though, and as our conversations evolved, it quickly became evident that our visions were perfectly aligned. Both companies are focused on changing the way the world communicates, and helping people stay in touch with the people they really know. With a shared vision—an ambitious one—we decided our efforts to own real-time communications and the real life network could be best executed as one company.
This has been a remarkable year for GroupMe, and we believe that this is a big win. And not just a big win for GroupMe and our amazing investors, but also for New York City. As part of the deal, GroupMe will remain in New York, team intact, working on our standalone application. The major difference will be that we will now have access to Skype’s 175 million monthly connected users. 175 million people. That’s a very big deal.
When we first started GroupMe, we set out to achieve two major goals. The first was to solve a very simple problem we had as individuals: how do we stay in touch and coordinate with our friends better in real-time? The second was a bit bigger: how can we change the way people across the globe communicate and get together better in real life? We solved problem #1, and our efforts alongside Skype will accelerate the execution of problem #2 tenfold. This is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.
With all of this excitement, we want to take a moment to thank you, our amazing users. Because of your excitement about GroupMe, your inexhaustible support, and your invaluable feedback, we have been able to make GroupMe into what it is today. We simply could not have done this without you. From all of us here at GroupMe— thank you so much.
We’re going to keep working hard on making GroupMe the best way to keep in touch with your real life network. We still have a long way to go with our product and vision, and we can’t wait to show you where we’re going next.
Love,
Team GroupMe
Introducing GroupMe 3.0
It’s a very exciting day here at GroupMe. Thanks to the invaluable feedback we’ve received from our users over the last few months, we have a slew of new features today that make GroupMe the easiest way to start conversations and keep in touch with your real life network.
There’s a lot of new stuff to celebrate, so let’s get to the point. Here’s what’s new!
Questions (Beta)
Direct Messages
Website
Who You Know
International Support
New Apps and More
We’re so excited for you to start playing with the new apps and features! So what are you waiting for? Here are a few things you should do right now:
Download the latest version of our app. Ask a question of your friends! Send a direct message to someone you’re in a group with! Chat with your groups from our website! Let us know what you think on Twitter or Facebook! And if you have any problems or questions, feel free to send us an email.
Enjoy!
Love,
Team GroupMe
Introducing Questions (Beta)
Today, we’re excited to introduce a new type of chat you can start on GroupMe. It’s as simple as asking a question to spark a conversation.
As we’ve heard from our users over the last few months, sometimes starting a group feels like too much pressure. You may know what you want to talk about, but not necessarily who you want to talk with. Maybe you want to ping a few friends to see who’s up for dinner. Or maybe you just have a burning question you’d like all your friends to answer.
That’s why we built Questions. It’s the easiest way to start a conversation with whomever you want. Direct it to just a few people, or to all of your groups. You can even broadcast your question on Twitter or Facebook. Everyone you ask has a chance to decide whether they’d like to join the discussion, or just comment on the question without receiving everyone’s updates.
You can use it to plan a real-life meetup:
Or to chat about something with your friends in real time:
Or even let your friends come to you.
We think of questions as a lightweight, fun companion to groups. It’s the fastest way to start chatting with your real life network.

At launch, you can ask questions from iPhone, Android, and the web. Anyone can answer a question and participate in the discussion, either on our website, on an app, or via SMS.
The uses are limited only by your imagination… and we can’t wait to see what you ask. It’s a brand-new beta feature, so we’re looking forward to seeing what people really do with it and where it goes next.
So what are you waiting for? Ask your first question now!
The following is a post written by our Community Management intern about our upcoming Campus Ambassador program.
Hey there—I’m Michael, the Community Management intern at GroupMe this summer!
Since I’ve been here, we’ve seen some remarkable cases of GroupMe in places that were never imagined. Examples like cancer support groups, neighborhood crime watches, and even tornado relief cases continue to motivate the team daily to keep building GroupMe to be the best it can.
Aside from the often awe-inspiring cases, there’s one place that GroupMe just seems to naturally fit in—the college campus.
Over the past year, I’ve had the chance to use GroupMe at school in many different ways:
Those are just a few examples of use cases, and we know there are many more out there. That’s why we’re starting a Campus Ambassador program to help bring GroupMe on campus to the next level.
Those selected as Campus Ambassadors will be our representatives on the front line of their campus. They’ll be publicizing GroupMe and helping new users and groups get started in a number of different areas. We’re ready to support those Ambassadors as much as possible - we’ll set up custom web pages, help plan promotions, and provide giveaways. We’ll even throw in lots of exclusive GroupMe swag! #)
We’ll tell you more about the details later. For now, we’re looking for motivated, creative, and passionate college students who understand the power of GroupMe to join us.
What’s more, the Ambassadors that do the best job on their campuses will be offered a paid internship at GroupMe HQ next summer—which, take my word for it, is amazing. Team GroupMe is constantly evolving, and the amount of creativity, skill, humor, and genius here is great.
If you fit the bill, or if you know someone who does, apply now. We can’t wait to meet you. The deadline for applications is July 31st!
New Featured Groups for June!
We couldn’t be more thrilled to start off the summer right, with four new Featured Groups. Whether you’re hitting the park with friends for a concert or relaxing in front of the TV, these new Featured Groups will help you and your friends have a great, entertaining summer.
Take a look at who’s joining us:
As always, our Featured Groups continue to offer behind-the-scenes updates, announcements, exclusive content, and the chance to win some cool prizes.
We can’t wait for what the month of June will bring, and these exciting groups are a great kick-start to the summer season.