Hyperlocal social media site Nextdoor is partnering with Kansas City to bring neighbors together virtually.
Kansas City Mayor Sly James wants neighborhoods to come together again in the digital age.
The city has partnered with Nextdoor, a private social network designed specifically for neighborhoods, to improve community engagement. Nextdoor is a three-year-old startup based out of San Francisco. More than 100 neighborhoods, representing nearly 40 percent of Kansas City, already use Nextdoor to privately connect with their neighbors, but James hopes to get nearly every resident on board.
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The City plans to use the platform as a community engagement tool by sharing information on public safety issues, public meetings like budget hearings and seasonal issues and services specific to each neighborhood. Then there’s how neighbors across the country use it: a forum to report a lost pet, post garage sales, find recommendations for babysitters and handymen, and ask to borrow ladders and other tools.
Officials say the site is private and password protected. City officials won’t be monitoring what neighbors are talking about, but instead hope it will be a good way to disseminate information to people in specific geographic locations. Previously, they could only do that by mail. Other cities like St. Louis, Austin, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Houston and Oakland have also partnered with the social media site.
Chris Hernandez, the City’s communications director, said it’s a good way for neighbors to get to know one another in a medium they’re more comfortable with now. He hopes it reverses the trend of neighbors not knowing each other.
“This will enable people to go out into real life to say hello to people on the street,” he said. “You know those faces and know their stories. That’s what its designed to do.”
Kansas City found out about the site through the Mayor’s Challenge cabinent, a group of young professionals who bring innovative ideas to the city, who already use the site. Around the same time, Nextdoor was brought up as an idea at another city initiative, the Ideas Fair.
Hernandez said he realizes residents may be reluctant to sign up for another social media site, but thinks Nextdoor is beneficial for both the City and residents.
“It’s another tool in our toolbox to reach people in a different, neighborhood-specific way,” Hernandez said. “(And for neighbors) if those online interactions bleed into real life, that’s the way you build a stronger neighborhood whether it’s over the fence or over a social media platform. That’s still building neighborhood.”
