4 ms·

Impressive. As a New Yorker, the concept behind the company is completely foreign. You live in a building for years, share walls and common space, and never get

Impressive. As a New Yorker, the concept behind the company is completely foreign. You live in a building for years, share walls and common space, and never get (or care) to know your neighbors. Only 1 other person with a profile photo in my building (Out of ~500 adults). The entire 'hood (5,000-10,000 people) only has 51 people registered (16 with a profile photo) and no updates since January.

testingonprod 12y ago
The thing is, each neighborhood has it's own content ecosystem that probably takes much time, money, and sheer effort to build up. It's not like Facebook where the network builds on top of itself once it's let loose. There's no "global virality" like FB or Twitter but that's probably a feature by design. The upside I can see with this is that it's incredibly difficult to replicate what Nextdoor have created and that probably plays a part in why it's now so valuable. I mean the stickyness of a network like this is insane. It's easy for a WhatsApp or SnapChat to come in, ride off of users' contacts or address-book and build massive social networks to compete with Facebook. How the hell can you compete with what Nextdoor is doing without a significant investment of time, resources, and just grinding it out. To me, this looks like a classic example of "Doing Things That Don't Scale" and a company benefiting tremendously from it.
o0-0o 12y ago
Their verification system is their secret sauce. They do a great job of making sure no spammers, scammers, marketers, or ad men get in the system. Because, the last thing you want to see around the campfire is an ad. If they monetize by selling your data to anyone and everyone, the system will break down. The kind of people that use those systems are not the neighborhood watch type. I am not sure about you, but if you break it down, knowing that 51 people in your neighborhood will see your updates is still empowering. I live on the corner of Central Park South and 7th Ave, and I get cool updates from the few people that share my area. Sure, this is the same area where apartments sell for 100M, but yeah. And also, I might add the best thing to do is just go to a pub and meet people. Some of my neighbors are truly inspiring.
akgerber 12y ago
I would reckon this depends a lot on your neighborhood in New York, and just how you choose to live. I know several neighbors.

testingonprod 12y ago

The thing is, each neighborhood has it's own content ecosystem that probably takes much time, money, and sheer effort to build up. It's not like Facebook where the network builds on top of itself once it's let loose. There's no "global virality" like FB or Twitter but that's probably a feature by design. The upside I can see with this is that it's incredibly difficult to replicate what Nextdoor have created and that probably plays a part in why it's now so valuable. I mean the stickyness of a network like this is insane. It's easy for a WhatsApp or SnapChat to come in, ride off of users' contacts or address-book and build massive social networks to compete with Facebook. How the hell can you compete with what Nextdoor is doing without a significant investment of time, resources, and just grinding it out. To me, this looks like a classic example of "Doing Things That Don't Scale" and a company benefiting tremendously from it.

o0-0o 12y ago

Their verification system is their secret sauce. They do a great job of making sure no spammers, scammers, marketers, or ad men get in the system. Because, the last thing you want to see around the campfire is an ad. If they monetize by selling your data to anyone and everyone, the system will break down. The kind of people that use those systems are not the neighborhood watch type. I am not sure about you, but if you break it down, knowing that 51 people in your neighborhood will see your updates is still empowering. I live on the corner of Central Park South and 7th Ave, and I get cool updates from the few people that share my area. Sure, this is the same area where apartments sell for 100M, but yeah. And also, I might add the best thing to do is just go to a pub and meet people. Some of my neighbors are truly inspiring.

akgerber 12y ago

I would reckon this depends a lot on your neighborhood in New York, and just how you choose to live. I know several neighbors.