Nextdoor's Private Social Site for Norristown

For anyone following The Norristown Project on Facebook, you would know my enthusiasm for this new town watch technique that has hit 19,000 neighborhoods across America. The site is called Nextdoor, a private social network for the neighbors in your community.

I have included a map of the current neighborhoods that have been established and are very active. As you can see, the map covers most of Norristown and half of West Norriton. So most likely, your area already has a neighborhood established. If you live in a community that has not been formed yet, it is a very simple process. All you do is draw the area you want as a community (as large or small as you want) and fine tune then you're done!

The neighborhood I live in is the Norristown Farm Park community so I can only speak for what I see on my end. The majority of the information we talk about are safety items, tips, and updates on events that the town may have going on. Also, our neighbors in the Elmwood Park region have shared with us the Sip N Dine events and times so we are informed of events outside of our neighborhood. Those are just a few examples of the content being created on the site.

To simply put it, it is a wonderful communication tool! Over the past couple months of The Norristown Project being active in the community, we have heard from many residents who are upset with the town and council for "hiding" zoning meetings and other important events that the residents could've attended. Many residents were upset they didn't know of the Festival on Marshall Street until picking up the newspaper the next day. Nextdoor solves those communication errors. Anyone can share an upcoming event with their neighborhood. Being on the site for the past month, I have discovered so many things going on around town that sites like Facebook and Norristown.org may not have had. If you want to solve the communication disconnect in Norristown, join Nextdoor to stay up to date with everything in Norristown.

The main thing I would like to point out is privacy. The site only allows you to see what your neighbors have posted in your community. For example, if you post about your yard sale in Norristown, only the community you live in can view it. However, you can share information with joining neighborhoods if you feel like the information would benefit them (festivals, crime, etc.). Only what you choose to share can be viewed. You can hide your address to only show the street number, etc. Also, a member from another community can NOT view any of your information or view what members are posting on your community.

I mentioned earlier of Nextdoor being home to over 19,000 communities across America, but there's another unique feature that several cities have embraced. There is a feature where town police, fire, and council can join the site to inform their neighbors on important information. Get this, it is also free for them! Recently, Houston, TX police department was next to join this band wagon. In a blog post by Nextdoor, they have determined that 60% of the city uses the site and there are communities all over the city. The fourth largest city in America has managed to get over 1.25 MILLION residents to join the site! If that's not enough proof that this site is working for neighborhoods, I don't know what else to tell you.

The site is free to join and I highly recommend you do. There is also an Android and iPhone app available if you want to use it on the go as well! I can go on and on about different features this site has, but I will leave it up to you to discover. You can use the link below to join for free. To verify your address, you can simple have a post card mailed to your house with a confirmation code or use your cell phone. The site never stores any personal information. If you are still skeptic, compare their privacy policy to Facebook and you would be surprised.

https://nextdoor.com/invite/mvrfdbmgxbxxajxjmxhf

Have you joined Nextdoor yet?