Nextdoor is a social networking platform for neighborhoods. The company was founded in 2008 and is designed to help neighborhoods keep in touch. Typical platform uses include neighbors reporting on news and events in their “neighborhood” and members asking each other for local service-provider recommendations.

Neighborhoods are created based on hyper local communities. It could be a subdivision or a small geographic area. If your address falls outside of the geographic definition of the existing neighborhood you can establish your own “neighborhood.” The “Founding” members determine the name and its boundaries. To create the new neighborhood, the member must attract a minimum of 10 households to the platform.

Users of Nextdoor submit their real names and addresses (or street without the exact number) to the website. Posts made to the website are available only to other Nextdoor members living in the same neighborhood.

Nextdoor introduced advertising to the platform, including real estate advertising, in 2017. Advertising includes posts inside user’s feeds about business services and products.

Here are some suggestions on how agents can participate in the platform:

• Think of Nextdoor as a hybrid local Facebook and neighborhood watch program. Like any social platform, the more you engage, the better.
• If you don’t find your neighborhood, create a new one. 
• Seek recommendations. People seek recommendations about who they should work with for a wide variety of services. The more visible your agency, the more likely you will see engagement.
• Consider experimenting with the advertising platform.

Nextdoor wrote a very informative article profiling how insurance agents can use the platform.

Have you been using Nextdoor to engage with a local community? What has been your experience?