So let's say you're interested in this whole mermaid thing, but you don't know where to start. As a furry, I know the places where furries hang out: here, FA, twitter, and on a more intimate scale, discord and telegram. Mermaids, by and large, aren't there. They're on instagram, facebook, and youtube. (This will be the topic of a separate post, but mermaids LOVE vlogging)
But here's the weird thing — for large discussions and social gathering, mermaids still use a forum. Like, a 2005-era forum. MerNetwork is still the premiere repository for mermaid knowledge online and sports a pretty active user base for pretty much any question you want to ask.
Mermaid "society" is a lot more top down, possibly owing to the smaller size and the fact that the fandom didn't really take off until after broadband internet was well established. To arrange meetups and swims and the like, merfolk are divided into "pods" based on their region, and sometimes sub-pods underneath that. I personally am in the Pod of New England, which split from the Pod of the Northeast like a decade ago.
If you want to find mers in your local area, MerNetwork has a forum for each pod, and most have a private facebook group you can join to get the latest details. Or you can stay on the forum and just chat.
@veyen did the photography, as always!