Nextdoor Is Facebook For Your Neighborhood

I'd wager most of you are on Facebook and I'd also bet that you have more than a few of your neighbors who live in your neighborhood has friends on Facebook. You may have never heard of a social network called Nextdoor. This is a network that focuses on the entire country or world; rather Nextdoor focuses on your neighborhood.

Nextdoor is sort of a cross between neighborhood level social networking and a neighborhood watch meeting online. You can sign up for an account if your area is served, set up borders for your particular neighborhood, and then invite your neighbors to join the service. The only caveat is that you have to sign up at least 10 neighbors within the first 21 days to be able to keep the site active for your neighborhood.

The idea is that you and your neighbors can use the site to warn each other about strange characters lurking in the neighborhood, stray animals causing havoc with your trash, or creepy door-to-door salesman. You can also use the service to organize neighborhood activities such as block parties or cleanups.

I suspect if you sign up a number of your neighbors it will also end up being a place for people to complain about those who don't keep their grass or yard just right. On the other side the service can be used to help people find lost pets and to keep an eye on children as they play with friends in the neighborhood. This is an interesting concept that I can see good and bad things in. It could be a place for people to simply congregate to complain or it could be a place to help get your neighborhood organized and safer.