The latest innovations the Trendwatching.com folks are keeping an eye on is the trend of “Off=On“. As they put it:

More and more, the offline world (a.k.a. the real world, meatspace or atom-arena) is adjusting to and mirroring the increasingly dominant online world, from tone of voice to product development to business processes to customer relationships.

Example? Check out Cristian Zuzunaga’s “Pixel Couch“.

Yet, what really caught my eye was Trendwatching’s “On-Off” sub-trends: some brands that started out exclusively online are beginning to realize that there’s also brand equity in being visible in the ‘real world’ – such as the “etsy” store in Brooklyn; the first print (yes, print) edition of Wikipedia (in German) published by Bertelsmann; and Meetup.

With 4.7 million members in over 3,600 cities worldwide, Meetup.com is the largest network of local groups – over 46,000 and counting. With their “Use the Internet to get off the Internet!” approach, Meetup members organize or join a group, all to improve themselves or their communities right at the local level and in the real world. With a Board of Directors that includes Sen. William W. Bradley, Esther Dyson, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, maybe Meetup is on to something.

So, I was curious. As it happens, Culture/Language is a popular group. Yes, both Vancouver and Toronto have a diverse population, with many people who speak one or more languages, or at the very least have an affinity towards a particular culture. But let’s get off the (perceived) beaten track for a moment … are there members in St. Adolphe, Manitoba speaking spanish? Yes. Any Montrealers speaking German? Yes. A Korean group in Calgary? Yes. And if you want to know how popular the Italian language is within Meetup, check this out.

Finally, if you know someone who spends just a little tooooo much time online, check out Meetup’s intervention e-mail and “Screen Addiction” video at www.unplugyourfriends.com.