5 ms·

I have been thinking a lot about creating localized versions of services like reddit and facebook so that people could be more in touch with what is actually go

I have been thinking a lot about creating localized versions of services like reddit and facebook so that people could be more in touch with what is actually going on around them instead of this kind of national narrative. It seems unfair that there is only room for so many famous people, so many inventors, so many journalists, because all of the attention (money) aggregates towards the top. If you could have, say, a local Martha Stewart that actually can subsist and become quite wealthy by sticking to a couple counties in a State, the whole system becomes much more valuable to each individual who participates. The way it is now your value is almost nonexistent, there is such a high barrier of entry to virality, it's like winning the lottery. What if it was easier to go viral in your own home town, build a career off of it, and never have to make the front page of any national website? Sorry, bit of a rant, but services like this hint that other people are thinking similarly. I'd like to see a much bigger push into fragmenting the web, and moreso fragmenting the attention share. It moves much like the economy, trickle up.

icedchai 8y ago
We had this in the 80's and 90's with dialup BBSes. With the Internet / web, we lost the local "community" feel...
- tracker1 8y ago
  There's still some out there (telnet), but mostly old Sysops, and Ansi/Ascii artists... It's not nearly the same as hitting local boards.
  - 392c91e8165b 8y ago
    It is just as cheap to access a telnet server half way around the world as one next door, so bringing up telnet is changing the subject.
  - icedchai 8y ago
    Yep, I used to run one... The problem is the "local community" aspect is gone... anyone can connect to these boards, but most people don't know how (or care to know.) It's not like the old days...
reustle 8y ago
I would contribute to a project like this. Instead is subreddit urls it's neighborhood or town name? Does Brooklyn have one but also NYC? Park Slope?
- jklinger410 8y ago
  Subreddits for local cities do an ok job of this, actually. The problem is that they are very basic and essentially "fan-made" (when the city gets involved it actually goes down hill). There's no ability to add features or anything so it's only serviceable. I do recommend people participate in their local subreddit though because it's one of the few examples of this that I see working out there.
prostoalex 8y ago
> creating localized versions of services like reddit and facebook In what way would it be better than existing town- and neighborhood-specific groups on Facebook or something like /r/LosAngeles?
- jklinger410 8y ago
  I'm not proposing anything specific so it's hard to respond to this question. There are many things that make subreddits and local facebook groups not work, though, and that's a lack of value to the user. They are there for you to use, or not, and their value comes from participation only. Facebook isn't going to add a feature for your community. Reddit isn't going to help moderate your subreddit. These large companies make money off of the national-level mindset, so their local offerings are kind of "take it or leave it."
  - maxerickson 8y ago
    That they come with scum filtering is a pretty attractive feature of big platforms like reddit. It's not going to help with the moderation that builds a community, but it isn't worthless either.
gowld 8y ago
http://nextdoor.com http://nextdoor.com is the leader in this space.
- jklinger410 8y ago
  Yeah, I'm on to check out nextdoor right now and see how many problems it solves for.
  - gilbetron 8y ago
    I joined a few months ago and found it is mildly useful, and I consider that a compliment. It works for what it is, doesn't try hard to be something it isn't, and actually makes you feel a bit more part of a community. I think the key in using it is to not treat it like reddit/facebook/whatever, and avoid having discussions with people except in a polite manner. Flaming out in a discussion with some other geek on the other side of the country is very different than pissing off your neighbor that is a prominent figure at your kid's school. I was very wary of it, but now feel ok recommending it with that provision. Tread lightly ;)
    - romwell 8y ago
      I joined too, because of their aggressive (in a nice way) marketing effort: every user who joins is encouraged to invite 3+ people, to whom physical paper postcards will be mailed out. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be more than I expected. In some ways, it's a downside: turns out I'd rather not know what kind of opinions my neighbors have on issues like housing projects and public transportation, and have PSA with security camera pictures in the feed whenever a suspicious (read: minority) person walked past someone's home. On the other hand, perhaps it's for the better not to live in a bubble.
    - illumin8 8y ago
      I use it (lightly), but found it mostly full of useless information like neighbors freaking out because a car of minorities drove through their neighborhood and looked suspicious. Then, I found this Twitter account that just shares all of the hilarious things they see on Nextdoor and it is pretty funny: https://twitter.com/bestofnextdoor https://twitter.com/bestofnextdoor
fullstackchris 8y ago
Yes! I've thought of an idea similar but more for edge cases (maybe even interesting trivia?) in the community that you couldn't find online - e.g. "is mom and pop's pizza place open right now?" (Its Sunday and they don't have a website).
staplers 8y ago
This is exactly why I believe a fractioning of current America into smaller countries (think Roman Empire -> Europe) is not only inevitable, but an overall net good.
brown9-2 8y ago
Facebook Groups already fills this need for a lot of neighborhood groups.
indescions_2018 8y ago
>>> other people are thinking similarly In lieu of re-creating existing social media. Which tends to scale down quite nicely. I'd focus on a single neighborhood "vertical" that boosts partcipation. Say a lending library of physical books. Used baby furniture and children's toys. Or even laptop recycling drives for schools. Distribution is as easy as printing flyers and putting them in mailboxes! Good luck ;)
armini 8y ago
Peertal is also a cool alternative, you can even go as far as paying & rating your Neighbours. Here's what the map view looks like: https://peertal.com/#/map-view https://peertal.com/#/map-view Here's the video pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkyH3JRxndc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkyH3JRxndc Android App https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.peertal.ionic&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.peertal.io... iTunes App https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peertal/id1238992138?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peertal/id1238992138?mt=8 Disclaimer, I'm the founder so feel free to ask me any questions or give us feedback. We're still learning the ropes..
- johnkarrabah 8y ago
  Love the concept of payments. This is one feature the rest of the world is lacking compared to Asia. Goodluck with your project.
- haldean 8y ago
  Why on god's green earth would anyone want their neighbors to rate them?
  - technofiend 8y ago
    Lol. Hey someone add a facial recognition or NFC feature so I can identify all the people leaving dog poop or trash in my yard. I'm gonna rate the hell out of those guys.
icebraining 8y ago
I couldn't disagree more :) The fantastic thing about the Internet is that it reduced those silly restrictions, like geography. There are still neighborhoods, but they're based on something more significant than where you happen to live. And I don't agree that you have to be front page of any national website. Did you ever see Gibi in one? Probably not, yet she has almost 1M people following her and makes a living out of it. She's a celebrity in her town - it's just that the town is called "ASMR" rather than "Boston" or "Philadelphia". That doesn't mean the current model doesn't have flaws, but I don't think returning to the past will solve any of them. It also doesn't mean geography isn't important in some cases; I would certainly support good local reporting, for example. But only when it makes sense for the purpose, not as a sort of informal trade barrier. The Martha Stewart of my home town? No thanks.

icedchai 8y ago

We had this in the 80's and 90's with dialup BBSes. With the Internet / web, we lost the local "community" feel...

tracker1 8y ago
There's still some out there (telnet), but mostly old Sysops, and Ansi/Ascii artists... It's not nearly the same as hitting local boards.
- 392c91e8165b 8y ago
  It is just as cheap to access a telnet server half way around the world as one next door, so bringing up telnet is changing the subject.
- icedchai 8y ago
  Yep, I used to run one... The problem is the "local community" aspect is gone... anyone can connect to these boards, but most people don't know how (or care to know.) It's not like the old days...

reustle 8y ago

I would contribute to a project like this. Instead is subreddit urls it's neighborhood or town name? Does Brooklyn have one but also NYC? Park Slope?

jklinger410 8y ago
Subreddits for local cities do an ok job of this, actually. The problem is that they are very basic and essentially "fan-made" (when the city gets involved it actually goes down hill). There's no ability to add features or anything so it's only serviceable. I do recommend people participate in their local subreddit though because it's one of the few examples of this that I see working out there.

prostoalex 8y ago

> creating localized versions of services like reddit and facebook In what way would it be better than existing town- and neighborhood-specific groups on Facebook or something like /r/LosAngeles?

jklinger410 8y ago
I'm not proposing anything specific so it's hard to respond to this question. There are many things that make subreddits and local facebook groups not work, though, and that's a lack of value to the user. They are there for you to use, or not, and their value comes from participation only. Facebook isn't going to add a feature for your community. Reddit isn't going to help moderate your subreddit. These large companies make money off of the national-level mindset, so their local offerings are kind of "take it or leave it."
- maxerickson 8y ago
  That they come with scum filtering is a pretty attractive feature of big platforms like reddit. It's not going to help with the moderation that builds a community, but it isn't worthless either.

gowld 8y ago

http://nextdoor.com http://nextdoor.com is the leader in this space.

jklinger410 8y ago
Yeah, I'm on to check out nextdoor right now and see how many problems it solves for.
- gilbetron 8y ago
  I joined a few months ago and found it is mildly useful, and I consider that a compliment. It works for what it is, doesn't try hard to be something it isn't, and actually makes you feel a bit more part of a community. I think the key in using it is to not treat it like reddit/facebook/whatever, and avoid having discussions with people except in a polite manner. Flaming out in a discussion with some other geek on the other side of the country is very different than pissing off your neighbor that is a prominent figure at your kid's school. I was very wary of it, but now feel ok recommending it with that provision. Tread lightly ;)
  - romwell 8y ago
    I joined too, because of their aggressive (in a nice way) marketing effort: every user who joins is encouraged to invite 3+ people, to whom physical paper postcards will be mailed out. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be more than I expected. In some ways, it's a downside: turns out I'd rather not know what kind of opinions my neighbors have on issues like housing projects and public transportation, and have PSA with security camera pictures in the feed whenever a suspicious (read: minority) person walked past someone's home. On the other hand, perhaps it's for the better not to live in a bubble.
  - illumin8 8y ago
    I use it (lightly), but found it mostly full of useless information like neighbors freaking out because a car of minorities drove through their neighborhood and looked suspicious. Then, I found this Twitter account that just shares all of the hilarious things they see on Nextdoor and it is pretty funny: https://twitter.com/bestofnextdoor https://twitter.com/bestofnextdoor

fullstackchris 8y ago

Yes! I've thought of an idea similar but more for edge cases (maybe even interesting trivia?) in the community that you couldn't find online - e.g. "is mom and pop's pizza place open right now?" (Its Sunday and they don't have a website).

staplers 8y ago

This is exactly why I believe a fractioning of current America into smaller countries (think Roman Empire -> Europe) is not only inevitable, but an overall net good.

brown9-2 8y ago

Facebook Groups already fills this need for a lot of neighborhood groups.

indescions_2018 8y ago

>>> other people are thinking similarly In lieu of re-creating existing social media. Which tends to scale down quite nicely. I'd focus on a single neighborhood "vertical" that boosts partcipation. Say a lending library of physical books. Used baby furniture and children's toys. Or even laptop recycling drives for schools. Distribution is as easy as printing flyers and putting them in mailboxes! Good luck ;)

armini 8y ago

Peertal is also a cool alternative, you can even go as far as paying & rating your Neighbours. Here's what the map view looks like: https://peertal.com/#/map-view https://peertal.com/#/map-view Here's the video pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkyH3JRxndc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkyH3JRxndc Android App https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.peertal.ionic&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.peertal.io... iTunes App https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peertal/id1238992138?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/peertal/id1238992138?mt=8 Disclaimer, I'm the founder so feel free to ask me any questions or give us feedback. We're still learning the ropes..

johnkarrabah 8y ago
Love the concept of payments. This is one feature the rest of the world is lacking compared to Asia. Goodluck with your project.
haldean 8y ago
Why on god's green earth would anyone want their neighbors to rate them?
- technofiend 8y ago
  Lol. Hey someone add a facial recognition or NFC feature so I can identify all the people leaving dog poop or trash in my yard. I'm gonna rate the hell out of those guys.

icebraining 8y ago

I couldn't disagree more :) The fantastic thing about the Internet is that it reduced those silly restrictions, like geography. There are still neighborhoods, but they're based on something more significant than where you happen to live. And I don't agree that you have to be front page of any national website. Did you ever see Gibi in one? Probably not, yet she has almost 1M people following her and makes a living out of it. She's a celebrity in her town - it's just that the town is called "ASMR" rather than "Boston" or "Philadelphia". That doesn't mean the current model doesn't have flaws, but I don't think returning to the past will solve any of them. It also doesn't mean geography isn't important in some cases; I would certainly support good local reporting, for example. But only when it makes sense for the purpose, not as a sort of informal trade barrier. The Martha Stewart of my home town? No thanks.