Monday, March 30, 2015

Next Door, our City email, 1 year later


 Pacifica Tribune/Horace Hinshaw, Editor, 3/10/15. "This is the way I see it..."

Next Door social network."It's been a year since the City implemented Next Door, a website where announcements, information and alerts are posted by the City. Have you wonder how effective this social medium has been?

I pretty much follow Next Door religiously, interested in seeing what information is being posted. Sometimes I even get leads on a suggested story for the Tribune. Mostly, however, I notice that it's being used similar to Craigslist where people can post items for sale or needing to purchase, or even looking for a babysitter. It was invaluable during the storms we experienced earlier this year. The Police Department often has posts that affect us, i.e., traffic jams, weather issues, unusual activity in a neighborhood. You even get to know your neighbors as they join the neighborhood website."

ReferenceNext Door, Pacifica, CA.

Related article - Slate.com/Seth Stevenson, "Won't you be my neighbor". "Tech entrepreneur Nirav Tolia noticed that we increasingly seem to prefer rubbing elbows online—instead of in real places where real elbows might really rub—and saw a business opportunity. In late 2010, he created a service called Nextdoor. It's a social network that attempts to webify the original social network: the neighborhood. There are now Nextdoor sites in more than 6,500 communities in 49 states (not clear what's up with those anti-communitarian South Dakotans). All of them were launched by regular folks who sought a way to connect with their neighbors, but didn't want to ring doorbells or make small talk in the elevator." (2 page article). 

Note: graphic is identified as a "screengrap via Next Door" from the Slate article.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

No comments: