Nextdoor releases Urgent Alerts for neighborhoods nationwide
Private Social Network for Neighborhoods Releases Urgent Alerts to Help Facilitate Community Safety
San Francisco, California, April 3, 2012 – Nextdoor (www.nextdoor.com), the first free and private social network for neighborhoods, announced today the release of Urgent Alerts. This new alert system allows Nextdoor neighbors to immediately notify neighbors of important, time-sensitive information in 110 characters or less via mobile phone text, as well as by email.
Research has shown that social networks within a neighborhood can lower crime and improve public health.[1] Nextdoor was created with this goal in mind. With the release of Urgent Alerts, Nextdoor is reinforcing their commitment to help make neighborhoods safer places to live.
“Organizing Neighborhood Watch groups and activities is one important way we see people using Nextdoor. Adding Urgent Alerts is yet another way for us to help empower neighborhoods when it comes to their own safety,” said Nirav Tolia, CEO and Co-founder of Nextdoor. “By using mobile devices to immediately broadcast crucial and time-sensitive information, neighbors can quickly organize, communicate, and ultimately resolve any potential threat or emergency that may arise in a neighborhood.”
Normally when a member posts a message via Nextdoor, neighbors receive that message through an email, either immediately or in a daily digest. For especially urgent matters such as suspicious activity, a missing child, fires, floods and other disasters a simple email may not be enough.
Intended for use in time-sensitive cases, having access to these updates in real-time gives neighbors the ability to act fast, notify friends and family, and respond quickly to the situation at hand.
“One of the primary reasons we elected to launch Nextdoor in our city was because we recognized the value of neighbor-to-neighbor communications in building community. The more connected the neighborhood the safer the community. Urgent Alerts is an example of the dedication of Nextdoor to providing ways for neighbors to help neighbors look out for one another,” said Jeff Maltbie, City Manager of San Carlos, CA.
To send an Urgent Alert message, a member simply needs to sign-in to their account and click the “Send alert” icon above the post box on the homepage. Members have the option of receiving the alert via email alone or along with an SMS text message. It is important to note that mobile numbers are not made public within a neighborhood unless members elect to share that information themselves in their Nextdoor profile.
[1] Putnam, Robert D. and John F. Helliwell. “The Social Context of Well-Being.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society359 (August 2004).
About Nextdoor.com, Inc.
Nextdoor (www.nextdoor.com) is a private social network for the neighborhood. Using Nextdoor’s free online platform, neighbors create private neighborhood websites where members can ask questions, get to know one another and exchange local advice and recommendations. Nextdoor is specifically designed to provide a trusted environment for neighbor-to-neighbor communication. Neighborhoods across the country are using Nextdoor to build happier, safer places to call home.
Based in San Francisco, California, Nextdoor was founded in 2010 by Internet veterans who have spent their careers creating thriving online communities.