What Happened?
The city of San Jose, California, recently announced a partnership with technology company Nextdoor, which provides a private social network for cities and neighborhoods.
Who Cares?
Cities are trying to do more with less. “We’re broke,” San Jose Councilmember Rose Herrera succinctly put it in the coverage of her city’s deal. The Nextdoor price is right—it’s free for cities—and the platform appears to be working for San Jose; it might be an interesting technology for other cities to review as they seek to communicate more efficiently with constituents.
The Digital Trend
As most Gov1 readers know, many cities are already leveraging social media services such as Twitter and Facebook to communicate with residents and local businesses; a study of the 75 largest U.S. cities found that 87 percent were using Facebook. In most cases, municipalities are using social media to disseminate information, from real-time road closings to upcoming arts events. And as a result of increased usage, some cities have been able to eliminated costly printed calendars and materials, and are seeking to expand their digital engagement with citizens.
There are too many examples of municipal Facebook sites to list as examples, but some that have been applauded include Orlando, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago’s office of the mayor, Los Angeles’ Parks Department, Richmond’s recruiting presence, and others.
Similarly, Twitter usage by municipalities has risen dramatically, from 25 percent of the largest cities in 2009 to 87 percent in 2011. Examples of cities with a robust Twitter presence include many of the ones above, as well as Atlanta, Seattle and its mayor, Austin, San Diego’s mayor, Houston, and others.
So, Why Nextdoor?
One of the problems with Facebook and Twitter is the “ungated” nature of the content; information published by municipalities is available to the entire world, and comments from citizens are similarly exposed.
Nextdoor provides an approach that is quite different—it is a “private” social network that is only available to your city or neighborhood. The service minimizes spam and abuse by requiring that users provide their street address, and communications are restricted by locale. That way, the city can broadcast messages to a neighborhood or the whole town; according to the company’s Web site, the Police Department in Ventura, CA, has been using Nextdoor to send alerts of property crimes to specific neighborhoods. The platform also neighbors to connect on local issues; Anaheim is using the platform as part of its “Hi Neighbor” initiative.
Next Steps
According to press release by San Jose Councilmember Rose Herrera, Nextdoor is free—and according to media reports, more than 60 cities are already using the Nextdoor platform.
For more information, visit Nextdoor or check out their page specifically for cities, which features information on municipalities using their platform. There is a form on that page that you can use to speak with the company.
If you want to reach out to customers using Nextdoor, these California leaders are listed as clients:
- Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait
- Ventura Police Chief Ken Corney
- Napa City Manager Mike Parness
Please note that Gov1 has no relationship with Nextdoor, and does not endorse nor benefit from the company; rather, we are providing the information above as a service to readers who are considering deployment of similar private social networks.