Nextdoor

Nextdoor
Web address www.nextdoor.com
Slogan The private social network for your neighborhood.
Type of site
 Social networking
Launched October 11, 2011[1]

Nextdoor is a social networking service for neighborhoods in the United States. It allows users to connect with people who live in their neighborhood and nearby neighborhoods.

Nextdoor competes with other social networks such as Yelp, Yahoo Groups, as well as groups on Facebook and Google. It differentiates itself from Facebook, for example, by limiting access to posts to the people in each neighborhood or those nearby, and claims that doing so enables posts to be made "privately", although the analysis of Nextdoor at Yes, Include Me! shows that Nextdoor's privacy claims are false.[2][3] It has been characterized by The Washington Post as part of a "wave" of community focus in the United States.[4]

Business model

Nextdoor is venture capital funded.[5] The company does not generate revenue yet.[6] Nextdoor intends in the future to earn income by facilitating the exchange of goods and services in a manner similar to Craigslist.[7] Recommendations of area resources are also provided, thus making it a competitor with another local services provider TaskRabbit. Chenda Ngak of CBS News has compared Nextdoor to a "College Bulletin Board."[3]

Before registering an account, prospective users verify their home address. Verification methods include providing a credit card or confirming a code mailed or phoned to the prospective user, although such methods are not foolproof as indicated by an analysis of Nextdoor at the Yes, Include Me website. Nextdoor provides registered users with a list of neighbors who have also registered (users are required to provide their real name).[3] Nextdoor allows users to see which nearby residents are registered on the site, and to send postcards advertising the site to non-registered neighbors.[8] Nick Wingfield of The New York Times worried that the site may "be used to publicly shame" neighbors or lead to "snarky messages" between residents. Nextdoor leadership has maintained that the presence of real names helps maintain civil behavior among users.[9]

Nextdoor was co-founded by Nirav Tolia, who based the company in San Francisco, California.[10] Tolia had previously helped start Epinions. Early investors include Benchmark Capital, Shasta Ventures, and Rich Barton. As of February 2014, Nextdoor had 80 to 100 employees.[11] In July 2012, Nextdoor raised $18.6M in venture capital funding.[12] Dan Clancy (ex Google) joined Nextdoor in February 2014.

Controversies

On May 14, 2014, Nirav Tolia, CEO of Nextdoor, was charged with felony hit-and-run for fleeing a crash on Highway 101 in Brisbane, California that left a woman injured. "It's ironic that the CEO of a company that is holding itself out as trying to promote neighborliness, crime watch and things like that flees the scene of an accident that he caused and doesn't bother to call 911 or stay around to exchange information or see if he caused any injuries," said the woman's attorney, Joseph Brent.[13] The charge was reduced to a misdemeanor and Tolia pleaded no contest and was sentenced immediately to 30 days in county jail and a $239 fine.[14]

Author Pendarvis Harashaw has accused Nextdoor's members of engaging in racial profiling: "While Nextdoor’s ability to assist in crime-spotting has been celebrated as its 'killer feature' by tech pundits, the app is also facilitating some of the same racial profiling we see playing out in cities across the country. Rather than bridging gaps between neighbors, Nextdoor can become a forum for paranoid racialism—the equivalent of the nosy Neighborhood Watch appointee in a gated community."[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Rao, Leena (October 26, 2011). "Benchmark-Backed Nextdoor Launches As A Private Social Network For Neighborhoods". Tech Crunch. Retrieved February 21, 2015.
  2. ↑ Delony, Doug (October 27, 2011). "New Social Network is Just for Neighbors". KRIV. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ngak, Chenda (October 27, 2011). "Nextdoor is a social network for real neighbors". CBS News. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  4. ↑ Flock, Elizabeth (October 27, 2011). "NextDoor and UnThink: Two upstart social networks you may want to get to know". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  5. ↑ Koh, Yoree (October 29, 2013). "Well-Heeled Neighbors: Nextdoor Raises $60 Million". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
  6. ↑ Help Center "About Nextdoor." Nextdoor.com. (Retrieved 3-31-2015).
  7. ↑ Scott, Martin (October 26, 2011). "Nextdoor comes knocking with neighborhood network". USA Today. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  8. ↑ Chapman, Glenn (October 27, 2011). "Nextdoor launches neighborhood social networks". AFP. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  9. ↑ Nick, Wingfield (October 26, 2011). "There Posts the Neighborhood". The New York Times. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
  10. ↑ Lee, Ellen (March 2, 2012). 2, 2011 "Nextdoor offers online forum for neighborhoods". San Francisco Chronicle.
  11. ↑ Isaac, Mike (February 4, 2014). "Nextdoor Taps Google Vet Dan Clancy for VP of Engineering Post". Re/code. Retrieved January 28, 2015.
  12. ↑ Bopper, Ben (July 24, 2012). "Nextdoor, the social network for neighbors, raises $18.6 million to help Americans stop bowling alone". The Verge.
  13. ↑ Lee, Henry K (May 14, 2014) "Police-friendly tech CEO charged with hit-and-run." San Francisco Chronicle. (Retrieved 4-17-2014.)
  14. ↑ Ellen Huet (June 13, 2014). "Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia Pleads No Contest To Reduced Charge In Hit-And-Run". Forbes. Retrieved June 22, 2014.
  15. ↑ Harshaw, Pendarvis (March 21, 2015) "Nextdoor, the social network for neighbors, is becoming a home for racial profiling." Fusion.net. (Retrieved 3-31-2015).

External links