Northwood News ♦ December 2013

‘Nextdoor’ Social Website is Proposed for Our Neighborhood

By Thomas Ford

My family and I moved here about four years ago.  I am a software developer and have long had an interest in how technology could support building stronger communities, i.e., not the online kind.  I’m not a big fan of Facebook.  However, someone finally had a the ingenious idea of building a social networking site specifically for neighborhoods!

As their site says, “Nextdoor.com is a company that lets people create private social networks with others who live in their local neighborhood.”  It has features you can find in Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and other sites.  The feature-set is not all that robust because it is a young company; however, it is — as they claim — designed from the ground up for neighborhoods.  So, the neighborhood site I created within their site is called: http://northwoodfourcorners.nextdoor.com.  Or, just go to www.nextdoor.com and search for “northwoodfourcorners.”

The feature that stood out the most for me was the map.  It is an embedded Google map showing the Northwood-Four Corners borders and color-coded dots over each house within the neighborhood boundry which serves as a sort of visual contacts directory.  For members (the green dots), you can show a name, phone, e-mail, etc., or nothing.  Click a dot to send a private message to that neighbor.  You can also see the river and trails nearby.

Other useful features include the events, groups, and categorized posts.  Groups could include your block, a committee for advocacy, clubs, or anything else.  Using a “group” also enables you to target your posts to a specific group of people.

With Nextdoor, messaging works similar to a listserv:  you can post from your regular e-mail account and have messages forwarded to your e-mail in a daily digest or individually.  However, it is more akin to an electronic bulletin board because everything is saved on the website as well.  So, posts like event announcements, resident-provided services, garage sales, etc., can be easily found and viewed on their website or via iPhone or Android using their mobile app.  Posting categories include:  Classifieds, Crime & Safety, Documents, Free Items, General, Lost & Found, and Recommendations.

Another feature I like is the address verification.  They have several ways they can do this, but basically it ensures that people signing up as a member of the neighborhood are actually in the neighborhood.  When my kids are eventually exposed to online social networking, I would much rather they use Nextdoor than something where they could be communicating with some random weirdo faking his identity.

Additionally, this is the kind of social networking which could help engage kids in local issues.  On a personal note, I grew up with a sense of apathy because many issues seemed too far out of my control to do anything about, hence, “Why try?”  Maybe I am too optimistic, but this strikes me as a tool that could give kids that sense that maybe they could make a difference locally.  That’s where it all starts.  Even if it’s just organizing a group of friends to go clean up the creek.

There has been a ton of press about the site from ABC, Time, Cnet, FastCo, and more.  One recent article stated, “It launched two years ago.  Now more than 22,500 neighborhoods in the U.S. use Nextdoor, one in seven neighborhoods across the country.” (Source: L.A. Times.)

Its offices are in San Franscisco, Calif.  The company has 60 staff and, to date, has totaled $100 million in investor funding.  Its only direct competitor appears to be a company called Meetey.com founded in 2012 in Israel with 10 people and no listed funding source.

Currently, the official means of communicating important information and events to members of the neighborhood is through the nfcca.org website, the Yahoo listserv, and this newsletter.  My hope is that the neighborhood and the NFCCA will embrace this technology and start using the website as its primary communication platform.  Please try out the site and come to the next NFCCA meeting to voice your opinion.   ■