What is Nextdoor?

Nextdoor is a social app that helps you communicate with your neighbors. As an alternative to traditional forms of social media, Nextdoor offers a way to foster relationships with your neighbors without having to knock on their doors. With the Nextdoor app, you can start discussions with your neighbors to bring attention to important issues within your community.

You may have to do some work inviting your neighbors to use Nextdoor. The service only becomes available in your neighborhood once membership has reached ten verified members.

Downloading Nextdoor

Before you can get started, you will need to download the app. Click on the link below to download Nextdoor for your device:

• Nextdoor for iOS
• Nextdoor for Android

After the installation is complete, launch the app and get ready to chat with your neighbors.

Signing up for Nextdoor

Once you have logged in with your new username and password or logged in with Facebook, the app will prompt you to find your neighbors.

You can allow Nextdoor to access your device’s contacts for easy access or select neighbors manually. As you move your way through the signup process, Nextdoor will ask you to turn on notifications so that you can receive messages from your neighbors. Once you have configured these items or chosen to skip them, you will be taken to the app’s main feed where you can see posts from your neighbors.

You can invite others to join Nextdoor at any time. In the top left corner of the main feed, simply select the Invite option. From there, you can invite others via email, your device’s address book, text message, or Nextdoor’s postcard.

You must verify your address in order to join a Nextdoor neighborhood. This is a security feature to keep neighborhood conversations among members of a community. There are multiple ways that you can verify your address:

• Phone number
• Credit or debit card billing address
• Social security number
• Using Leads to have other verified members vouch for you
• Accepting an email invitation from a verified neighbor
• A third-party service called LexisNexis can validate your home address using your email address
• A postcard from Nextdoor

Check here for additional information regarding Nextdoor’s address verification process.

Using Nextdoor

Nextdoor is very easy to use. The discussion forum style in the main feed makes it easy to start new discussions with your neighbors. In the main feed, you can see all activity posted by users in your area. Similar to the response features available on Facebook, you can take actions to reply to your neighbor’s posts. You can “Thank” them for posting, “Welcome” new members, or “Respond” to a neighbor’s post with a message.

If you are searching for something specific, you can also filter your activity.

The options for filtering local results include:

• By neighborhood
• By nearby neighborhood
• Local agencies

The options for filtering categories include:

• Classifieds
• Crime & Safety
• Documents
• Free Items
• General
• Lost & Found
• Recommendations

Feel free to start a conversation with others that you feel is relevant to your neighbors. There is no restriction on the type of information you can post. However, Nextdoor does request that you use “neighborly behavior” when engaging with others. They request that you

• Treat others with respect
• Share helpful information
• Honestly represent yourself

Check out the Nextdoor Guidelines for more information regarding tips for proper usage.

Some examples of common posts include:

• Neighborhood maintenance issues
• Items for sale
• Childcare options
• Missing animals/animals found
• Homeowner concerns
• Recommendations for home care or maintenance
• General neighborhood concerns
• Real estate recommendations

Nextdoor provides each user with an individual inbox. Use this option to send and receive private messages with your neighbors. If you don’t feel your correspondence is useful to the neighborhood, opt to use a private message instead.