Bill Holton
You are doubtless familiar with the two major online social networks: Facebook and Twitter. Using them you can stay in touch with friends and make new friends around the world. Today, with the spread of COVID-19 and the prevailing advice regarding social distancing, these networks are even more essential to maintaining friendships and staying connected.
In these difficult times, however, it may be prudent to make some new friends a bit closer to home, such as people who can pitch in during an emergency, or someone to share the latest neighborhood gossip with.
But how? At the moment, the Welcome Wagon is less likely to show up at your front door if you move into a new apartment. And meeting and striking up a conversation with a new friend-to-be in the park is also problematic, at best.
So how do you introduce yourself to that new neighbor, or learn about the family around the corner you always meant to introduce yourself to? One way is to participate in a free social network called Nextdoor, which connects you with neighbors who share your zip code, subdivision, and/or neighborhood. There are also Nextdoor apps for both iOS and Android.
I first joined Nextdoor when a neighbor sent me an e-mail invitation, but you can join directly, as well. Registration is accessible. During your initial visit you are asked to input your name, along with your physical and e-mail addresses. The software will try to determine your subdivision and/or neighborhood. On the next screen, you'll provide more information, including a password and your phone number for verification purposes—a minor hassle, but it keeps spammers to a bare minimum.
Your initial Nextdoor area will be wide. My own included 38 different developments and neighborhoods in my small town and over 4,000 members. I can edit which neighborhood I wish to show up in my feeds, though, and direct my posts to only people living in my subdivision or in others, or all other neighborhoods as well.
Why Join Nextdoor?
You will be amazed at just how helpful your neighbors can be, if they are aware help is needed. For example, when a power switch on my leaf shredder died it wasn’t worth sending it in for a factory repair. I posted a message on Nextdoor hoping to find someone who was enough of an electrician to help me get it fixed. I offered to pay, but the gentleman who wound up helping me out refused payment. So, I took him to lunch, and we have now become friends. I have also used the network to find referrals for reliable handymen and other local professionals.
During a recent check-in, I discovered a number of people in my community who were already offering to help individuals who didn’t feel safe venturing out with grocery and pharmacy trips due to the current COVID-19 outbreak. I’m also receiving updates of which local eateries are open for curbside pickup and/or delivery. Using Nextdoor I can also keep up with what’s been going on in town. For example, did anyone get hurt in that screeching auto crash I heard the other night? Happily, the answer was no. Is there anyone in my small town who does guitar repair? Yes, and he did an exceptional job, and even offered me free pickup and delivery. And I cannot count the number of dogs and cats that have been reunited with their owners thanks to a “Lost and Found” post on Nextdoor.
If you are a Facebook user, the Nextdoor format will already be familiar. Instead of your individual news feed gathering and displaying posts from your friends, you will encounter a neighborhood news feed with posts offering event announcements, merchant recommendations, requests for help, Homeowners Association information, and more. You can react to these messages, thank the writer, “Like” the post, or offer a public or private reply. Smartphone and email alerts are also available to notify you of popular posts and to let you know when someone has reacted or responded to your post.
The service is supported by mostly local ads that are not overly intrusive.
Overall, I found Nextdoor extremely screen-reader friendly, both on the Web and using an app. The news feed is well tagged with heading markers, and all of the buttons are labeled. About the only issue I had was an occasional difficultly posting messages I had created using dictation. The Done button refused to work, even if I deleted a few characters and retyped them using the on-screen keyboard. I had to enlist my wife to turn off VoiceOver and have her press the Done button, which worked fine for her. I have experienced this same issue when posting to other apps via dictation, however. I suspect this is a VoiceOver bug, which I have reported, so this is an issue you may or may not experience. I have never had any trouble at all posting via the website.
How many of your neighbors do you know? Want to double that number? There’s no better time than today to join Nextdoor.
This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.
Related articles:
- Full Speed Ahead with Modern Communication: A Review of the Zoom Conferencing System by J.J. Meddaugh
- Book Review: 31 Cool Things You Can Do with Your iPhone: From Fun to Practical to Entertaining, by Judy Dixon by Deborah Kendrick
More by this author:
