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Nextdoor, Sheriff's Department

Nextdoor, Sheriff’s Department Team Up For Social Media Outreach

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials are encouraging sign-ups for a social media network called Nextdoor ahead of a countywide push slated for later this month, officials said Monday.

Sheriff’s Department officials have been working with Nextdoor for about a year to create a partnership of sorts between the network and law enforcement officials.

Nextdoor is a social media network allowing residents in a specific neighborhood (with parameters determined by the neighborhood’s residents) to communicate messages only seen by residents in that neighborhood — in addition to private messages.Nextdoor

“Nextdoor gives neighbors across the country the chance to connect with each other privately online about the things that matter most in their community,” said Jennifer Burke, a representative for Nextdoor.

“The No. 1 thing is privacy,” she said, “that’s really one of the unique things that make Nextdoor different.”

Statistics show about 28 percent of Americans can’t name a single neighbor, Burke said, a figure Nextdoor could help change.

How the Sheriff’s Department could use Nextdoor

The Sheriff’s Department would plan to use Nextdoor much like it already utilizes Nixle, which allows agencies and governments to send out information to individuals who sign up to receive alerts.

Nextdoor would allow for an even more precise message delivery, said Tony Moore, deputy with the Sheriff’s Department Electronic Communications Bureau.

The site currently has no ads and is funded by venture capitalists counting on the site’s potential, Burke said.

A monetary potential for the site was seen early on, when Nextdoor officials noticed one-fifth of user-generated posts were classifieds-style ads, Burke said. In the future, the site might be used to help small businesses identify potential customers.

However, one of the reasons public safety agencies, such as law enforcement officials, were invited to get involved is because safety concerns were also something a lot of neighbors were talking about, she added.

About 20 percent of the postings neighbors write are related to law enforcement or safety concerns.

Starting next month, the site plans to expand its pilot program of about 250 city governments, according to Nextdoor.

Deputies wouldn’t be able to see what residents were posting (unless a deputy happened to be a verified resident of a neighborhood), Moore said.

However, the network would allow officials to send information if, say, there was a standoff near Bouquet Canyon Road and Alamogordo Drive, deputies could notify area residents instead of sending out a citywide bulletin.

“It’s a great platform and it’s going to be an additional safety tool for us to communicate,” Moore said. “We can go down to specific neighborhood.”

The Sheriff’s Department currently is training deputies who at the Sheriff’s Station level, so, just as with Nixle, the delivery of information would come from the Crime Prevention Unit in the Santa Clarita Valley by deputies who are very familiar with the territory.

“We’re going to engage people on there and help people by providing information,” said Deputy Josh Dubin of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station. “We’re in the process of involving Nextdoor in our community outreach through the CPU, and we encourage people to sign up.”

 A question-and-answer sheet about Nextdoor is available on the network’s website by clicking here.

 Here’s some data provided by Nextdoor:

Useful Nextdoor information:
  • Nextdoor launched nationwide in October 2011, and has launched more than 43,000 neighborhood websites and is in all 50 states, representing more than 1 in 4 U.S. neighborhoods.
  • Nextdoor is a free online platform that enables neighbors to create private social networks for their neighborhood. Using Nextdoor, neighbors can communicate with each other to build stronger and safer neighborhoods.
  • Each neighborhood creates a private Nextdoor website that is accessible only to the residents of that neighborhood.
  • Breakdown of conversations on Nextdoor: 11% events, 22% civic issues, 20% crime and safety, 14% classifieds, 26% recommendations, 7% other
  • Topics of discussion on Nextdoor are as varied as local events, school activities, plumber and babysitter recommendations, recent crime activity, upcoming garage sales or even lost pets.
  • Every neighbor must verify their home address to ensure that they do in fact live in that neighborhood. This can be done using one of five methods of the new member’s choosing: credit or debit card billing address, reverse phone dials to mobile or landline telephones, a postcard with a verification code sent directly to one’s home, or the last four digits of one’s social security number.
  • Nextdoor has partnered with more than 250 cities.
Stats about neighborhood interaction/social networking:
  • According to a June 2010 survey by the Pew Research Center, only 29% of Americans know some of their neighbors and 28% know none of their neighbors by name
  • According to an August 2011 survey by the Pew Research Center, over 65% of all online adults said they used a social networking site.
  • According to a June 2011 survey by Pew Research, only 2% of peoples’ Facebook friends are neighbors
  • According to a November 2009 survey by Pew Research, 79% of Americans who use an online neighborhood forum talk with their neighbors in-person at least once/month, compared to 61% of all Americans

Nextdoor, Sheriff’s Department Team Up For Social Media Outreach

3 comments

  1. Val Verde uses it to BULLY PEOPLE – anyone who doesn’t think the way of the Lead, the Moderator, or the Puppet Master gets banned…

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About Perry Smith

Perry Smith is a print and broadcast journalist who has won several awards for his focused, hyperlocal community coverage in several different regions of the country. In addition to five years of experience covering the Santa Clarita Valley, Smith, a San Fernando Valley native, has worked in newspapers and news websites in Los Angeles, the Northwest, the Central Valley and the South, before coming to KHTS in 2012. To contact Smith, email him at Perry@hometownstation.com.