Nextdoor, the anti-facebook

 

I like to think that I’m plugged in to the goings on of the internet and our digital world, but occasionally something comes along and you have just missed the boat. Such is the case with Nextdoor. In case you also didn’t know, nextdoor is a social network, with a particular restriction. When you join, you verify your address, and you are placed in your neighborhood. So you are only interacting with your neighbors.

Today was the first time I had even heard about it, but it seems there are already nearly 40,000 neighborhoods using it. And a quick trip through the signup process shows me that there are already 111 members in my neighborhood. I’m sure the content varies wildly depending on the neighborhood. In my sleepy little burg, you’ll find things like printers for sale, babysitters wanted, questions about whether the internet is down for everyone else, and someone looking for a good mechanic.

You can also look just at specific posts in a number of categories: Classifieds, Crime & Safety, Documents, Free Items, Lost & Found, Recommendations. I’m happy to report that my neighborhood is looking pretty safe according to nextdoor. And just a bit surprised to learn that I have access to free horse manure. It’s a really interesting idea. The wonder of the internet and the modern social networks is how it allows us to be connected with people across vast geographical ranges. The fly in that ointment though, is that it occasionally comes at the cost of the connections in our near vacinity. This is a very clever way to approach that.