The Girl Behind @Thenext3_groningen
The Girl Behind @Thenext3_groningen
Don’t know what to do in Groningen? Adele has got your back — running a page where you can both check out and submit events in the city!
This week, I had the amazing opportunity to talk to Adele, the creator behind @thenext3_groningen. To her surprise, the page quickly gained popularity, reaching 4,000 followers on the day of our interview, which also marked the two-month anniversary of the page!
Adele is a 20-year-old student from France, currently in her third year at University College Groningen (UCG), majoring in law and international relations. This is her last year in Groningen before she moves back to Paris to continue her master's in law.
The Inspiration Behind the Page
Adele started @thenext3_groningen by herself, and she continues to manage it alone. The idea for the page came to her when she noticed a common complaint among her friends: "There's nothing to do in Groningen." Many believed that to find real activities, you had to go to Amsterdam. However, Adele disagreed. She felt that the information about local events was just scattered and hard to track.
"We're in so many WhatsApp groups where you can get announcements of events, but it’s not easy to keep track of them all," she explained. Inspired to change this, she created a centralised platform that could provide a clear and manageable overview of events happening in Groningen. “If you don't know that things are happening, of course you think like, oh, such a small town, there’s nothing to do. But for some reason, I have an eye for it. I notice the events, and I'm organised as well for that.”
The Power of Three
Adele chose to structure her page around the number three, a concept that resonated deeply with her. "There's a whole symbolic meaning with the number three. It's known as the magic number, representing harmony. We function in threes: birth, life, death; past, present, future. So, three is a number that people recognise and connect with," she said. This approach allowed her to give people a manageable number of options without overwhelming them.
She started by posting events happening over the next three days, which helped people plan on a short-term basis. Then she added a feature for last-minute activities, called the next three hours. "Groningen is very small, so you can, if you see the video and see that it's in three hours, get up; and that's normally enough time to get there in time for the start of the event," she noted.
Rapid Growth and Engagement
The page quickly gained traction, much to Adele's surprise. While she was on vacation in Spain, she couldn't make proper posts without her laptop and decided to try creating reels with videos she had of the city and events. “I just love the city, so I just take videos all the time.” This led to a significant increase in followers and engagement. "People started following and sending me events. It just grew from there," she said.
A month ago, she added a note in her bio for people to DM their events to her, which has been working well. "Now, people are sending me their events, and so that also works. And now I'm exploring a bit more," she shared.
Balancing Studies and This Passion Project
Despite her busy schedule, Adele tries to attend as many events as possible. "I try to go to most of them, but at some point, it's impossible because I'm doing this on the side," she admitted. Balancing her studies, bouldering, part-time job as a teaching assistant, and modelling for drawing courses, she still finds time to engage with the community.
I was honestly blown away. But apart from Adele’s bubbly and infectious personality, you could really feel her love for this city and its people. She said that she wanted to make it clear that she is not affiliated with any kind of company or association, nor is she receiving financial backing. She runs the page solely because she enjoys it, and wants it to stay that way.
"My friends often join me, and it’s great to meet the people behind these events. It's about being organised and prioritising," she explained. Her organisational skills and passion for connecting with people have been key to managing the increased popularity of her page, never missing a day to post.
Keeping Community Alive
One of the most rewarding aspects for Adele is hearing from people who attend events because they saw them on her page. "A lot of people just text me privately. They send me a DM saying, 'Hey, I went to this because I saw it on your account.' That's where I get the most joy," she said.
Adele regards this as her greatest achievement: “This account is also about spending our time differently. The videos are on Instagram to invite people to pause their doomscrolling and share possible activities with their friends or write them down in their calendar, to get closer to real life and further from the barrier with the real world that social media is. There is no obligation, but simply an opportunity to reconnect with reality and the things that are happening so close to us, in real life.”
Plans after Graduation
As for the future of the page, Adele is open to the idea of passing it on to someone else when she graduates. "I wanted to keep it going because it's not about me. It's about people knowing that there are things to do in Groningen, and things for everyone, actually," she said.
Finding the right person to take over will be crucial. "It would just have to be someone who also has an eye for it and the passion for talking to people," she noted.
Final Thoughts
Adele feels that @thenext3_groningen is building a sort of energy within the community. "People are excited to do new things. They don't want to do the usual things anymore. It’s a very joyful project, and I love the positivity it brings," she concluded.
Her enthusiasm and dedication have created a platform that not only showcases the many activities and events in Groningen, but an entire community with all the overwhelming support and the number of event submissions.