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If you took a combination of Facebook, Nextdoor, and PBS, removed all commercial interests, made it publicly owned, and made its mission the betterment of the p

If you took a combination of Facebook, Nextdoor, and PBS, removed all commercial interests, made it publicly owned, and made its mission the betterment of the public good, yes, that would actually be amazing. (As a portal for government information and services) I would start with just a very stripped-down platform, and then allow integrations, such that every government entity could use the platform to publish information and communicate. Citizens could also communicate among themselves, either in "neighborhood groups", or privately. But personal profiles should be private by default, and require strong authentication guarantees for others to view. Everyone could still comment on public content as they do today, but personal data would remain private. As government entities integrate into the platform, they could begin publishing data that citizens could subscribe to. Community classes at the local library, parks department announcing a call for volunteers, DMV office closings, IRS filing deadlines, local civic board meeting notes, and of course, PBS content. It could be one source to consume all of the potential open data available to citizens. It could also be a portal to find the right government services, as well as pass information to it: report a crime, pothole, zoning violation, etc much like '311 apps' do today (Philadelphia 311: https://www.phila.gov/311/form/Pages/default.aspx https://www.phila.gov/311/form/Pages/default.aspx Open Maps Philly: https://openmaps.phila.gov/ https://openmaps.phila.gov/ Open Data Philly: https://www.opendataphilly.org/ https://www.opendataphilly.org/ Philly Property History: https://li.phila.gov/ https://li.phila.gov/ Philly Atlas: https://atlas.phila.gov/ https://atlas.phila.gov/) Right now Facebook and custom regional solutions serves much of this need, but it's also filled with a huge amount of crap that we shouldn't have to deal with just to find this information. And of course, privacy can come first on such a platform, rather than last. > Let’s build one. Fuck it, yeah, let's. Where do I sign up?

sp332 7y ago
I've only heard nasty things about Nextdoor - probably because it's more sensational. What do you like about it?
- peterwwillis 7y ago
  Granted, Nextdoor is a source of a lot of drama. The features I like are the ability to connect with a specific neighborhood, receive local notifications, and coordinate with neighbors. I think if there were very specific groups for very specific purposes in an area, or only govt employees could start new posts, it could be useful, such as "the parks department is having a clean-up day this weekend near you, post here to coordinate rides to the park", "there is an amber alert in your neighborhood", "police are asking if you have any tips about a break-in that happened on your block", "school closures tomorrow", "local elections tomorrow at the following locations".
- jpindar 7y ago
  No one talks about the Nextdoor instances where no drama happens. In my neighborhood, the conversations are all about: Things the local government is about to do, or should do, such as putting in traffic lights or fixing creacked sidewalks People wanting to buy or sell furniture, rent out rooms, etc. People looking for recomendations for tradesmen, doctors, etc. and warning against bad ones Missing pets, and other lost or found items Promoting events held by chuches, schools, social clubs, etc. Wildlife sightings - it's useful to know when there are coyote and bear sightings in our neighborhood Warnings about scams, or about crimes such as cars being broken into or things stolen from people's yards. Severe weather warnings Local news in general - we recently had a boil water notice, so there was some discussion about that
jph 7y ago
You can add your social network ideas, and also see similar ideas and opinions, in a repo that I maintain: https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/social_network_plan https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/social_network_plan Social networks are challenging to create and maintain, both in terms of user participation and growth scaling. I believe that any new social network, that aims to be large, will want to tackle the ideas in the above repo.

sp332 7y ago

I've only heard nasty things about Nextdoor - probably because it's more sensational. What do you like about it?

peterwwillis 7y ago
Granted, Nextdoor is a source of a lot of drama. The features I like are the ability to connect with a specific neighborhood, receive local notifications, and coordinate with neighbors. I think if there were very specific groups for very specific purposes in an area, or only govt employees could start new posts, it could be useful, such as "the parks department is having a clean-up day this weekend near you, post here to coordinate rides to the park", "there is an amber alert in your neighborhood", "police are asking if you have any tips about a break-in that happened on your block", "school closures tomorrow", "local elections tomorrow at the following locations".
jpindar 7y ago
No one talks about the Nextdoor instances where no drama happens. In my neighborhood, the conversations are all about: Things the local government is about to do, or should do, such as putting in traffic lights or fixing creacked sidewalks People wanting to buy or sell furniture, rent out rooms, etc. People looking for recomendations for tradesmen, doctors, etc. and warning against bad ones Missing pets, and other lost or found items Promoting events held by chuches, schools, social clubs, etc. Wildlife sightings - it's useful to know when there are coyote and bear sightings in our neighborhood Warnings about scams, or about crimes such as cars being broken into or things stolen from people's yards. Severe weather warnings Local news in general - we recently had a boil water notice, so there was some discussion about that

jph 7y ago

You can add your social network ideas, and also see similar ideas and opinions, in a repo that I maintain: https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/social_network_plan https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/social_network_plan Social networks are challenging to create and maintain, both in terms of user participation and growth scaling. I believe that any new social network, that aims to be large, will want to tackle the ideas in the above repo.