Fourteen years ago, Nextdoor debuted on the digital networking scene. It carved out a niche as a website and app that facilitated connections between neighbors. It’s a digital space where they can share information, ask questions and seek recommendations relative to their geographic neighborhood.
This summer, Nextdoor unveiled a new design, returned to its original branding and logo, embraced local news — notably, at a time when other networking platforms devalue it — and incorporated Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the platform.
Kelsey Grady is Nextdoor’s chief global communications officer. She spoke with E&P about “the new Nextdoor.”
“We describe Nextdoor simply as the essential neighborhood network. [It] is an online platform, as well as an app, where you can open it up and find out what's going on in your local community. It’s everything from incredibly useful things, like ‘I need a recommendation for a babysitter or a plumber.’ It’s where you go to sell used furniture. And then there are the really critical things, like finding out there's a fire happening,” Grady said.
AI plays two roles. It helps spark conversation; for example, in a neighborhood where a new bike lane is under consideration, Nextdoor might ask members of that community to comment about the proposal. AI also filters out any non-local or inappropriate content.
“We also built an alerts platform — a section or map where we’re pulling in real-time alerts about everything from street closures to power outages to earthquakes, tsunamis and fires. The severity determines the experience of the alert,” Grady said.
Nextdoor is a gold mine for local newsrooms. Journalists can find story leads and sources and better understand what’s important to the community — including questions they may have, as well as the information they want and need.
“It’s only going to get better for local journalism in this next phase, because of how we’re starting to integrate publishers on the platform,” she suggested.
Grady said they’ve conducted product research and hosted focus groups, which affirmed that their users want to see local news on Nextdoor.
“The main thing people told us was, ‘I want Nextdoor to be more useful. I want it to be more informative.’ … By bringing in more authoritative, trusted, useful content, we’ll make Nextdoor an indispensable daily habit,” Grady said.
Nextdoor reported to E&P that it currently has approximately 3,500 verified local news publishers on the platform, including members of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN).
“We’re welcoming all mediums of local content — radio, TV, local affiliates, newspapers, magazines. Anything local is welcome,” Grady explained.
“It’s a pretty seamless, easy partnership. It’s free. We’re not paying them; they’re not paying us,” Grady said. “We need great content. They need distribution. It’s mutually beneficial. They can activate their page within minutes … and then we pull from their RSS feeds.”
When a publisher sets up a Nextdoor News Account, they create a profile page and gain access to engagement analytics. Users may “follow” the news outlet, which ensures they receive posts in their newsfeeds, and they can send direct messages to the news publisher.
“One of our challenges is that a lot of these sites are paywalled, so we ask publishers to give us RSS feeds with maybe 10 free articles before users hit their paywalls. They all have varying levels of dealing with their own paywalls. We don’t stop them from paywalling their articles if that’s their model … It’s up to the publisher what sort of experience they want to provide,” she said.
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
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