Phone-free event listings up 567% as NewTree Social enters Tampa Bay

Eventbrite data showing a 567% rise in phone-free event listings globally between 2024 and 2025 frames the market NewTree Social, a Tampa Bay community events app, is entering. Attendance at those events rose 121% over the same period, according to Eventbrite's 2026 Social Study, which surveyed Americans and Britons ages 18 to 35. Founder Maddy O'Connor, 29, has described the app as pre-traction and pre-revenue, with Tampa, St. Pete, and Clearwater as the initial test geography before any Florida-wide expansion.

The behavioral data behind the setup

Eventbrite's survey carries an obvious caveat: it comes from a company with a direct interest in live-event activity. With that noted, the scale of the numbers is worth registering. The study found 79% of 18-to-35-year-old respondents planned to attend more events in 2026. Among Gen Z respondents specifically, 74% said in-person experiences mattered more than digital ones and 46% reported actively limiting screen time. Those numbers frame a real behavioral signal, even if the source has skin in the game.

What the platform does and what to watch

NewTree is currently an iPhone-only app; O'Connor says Android support is planned but not yet available. O'Connor, who comes from a graphic design background, says she built the app to feel more like a social platform than a standard events directory, with host reviews feeding into how events rank in the browse experience rather than sitting passively on a profile. Users can browse local community, fitness, and wellness events, RSVP, and receive reminders.

On the host side, O'Connor says she is personally reviewing and approving every host before events appear publicly, a throughput constraint she describes as manageable at MVP scale. Hosts receive attendees' names, emails, and location data upon an RSVP. NewTree's terms note that events are operated by outside hosts and that the company does not ordinarily conduct criminal background checks on users, hosts, or organizers.

NewTree is entering territory that Meetup, Eventbrite, and Facebook already occupy. The business model is still forming: O'Connor says the app will likely stay free for users while paid tools for hosts and businesses come later, though specific features have not been decided.

The proof-of-concept milestone is Tampa Bay traction. O'Connor has set that market as the hurdle before any Florida expansion, and the app's broader thesis depends on whether the behavioral shift the Eventbrite data describes translates into genuine event attendance rather than another feed people open, browse, and set aside.