Originally posted under Commentary
June 7, 2014 I just received an oversized postcard in the mail regarding Nextdoor dot com. I have some very serious reservations about this this endeavor and I hope those on the Cabrini Steering Committee have thoroughly investigated it as they seem to be endorsing it and wanting neighbors and residents to join it. Before going into why I have reservations, I'd like to say it's a great idea BUT the very same thing can be accomplished utilizing facebook with a closed group and verifying those who want to join. Simple and most of us are already on facebook. If not or they don't want their personal facebook account tied to a "Group", they can simply make up a name to use and join. The SC I was involved in did try to get an active group going but it never really did do well -- couldn't even get our then "President" to join us! I don't believe this Steering Committee has ever even tried to start a Cabrini Group up on facebook and if they have, I'm certainly not aware of it. There's some MAJOR RED FLAGS I have: 1. The Nextdoor site is financed by SIlicon Valley companies. Investors include: Bezos Expeditions, Google Ventures, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Allen & Company and Pinnacle Ventures. It is expected in the future that investors will be repaid through advertisements posted on the pages and possibly paid memberships. Currently Nextdoor does not have any advertisements and is free. Bezos Expeditions (Amazon) , Google and the rest are BEHEMOTH for-profit ventures and they're doing this out of the goodness of their hearts? Or they'll get some modest returns later through paid memberships and ads. I'm highly suspicious there's simply got to be more to this. 2. IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO NEXT DOOR AND THEN DECIDE TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Your personal information, including your name and full address remain on the site, though you do not receive any information or posts from the site. In order to remove your personal information from the site, you must deactivate your account. In the meantime, you have provided them with your personal information and verified it through a one-cent transaction on a credit card! So these ENORMOUS for -profit companies now have your correct name, address AND credit card information. The amount of information that they will be able to glean about you and your shopping and habits in INCREDIBLE. I wonder what's in the fine print when you sign up. Kinda scary to me. One can also be verified by a resident/neighbor vouching for you. So somebody who rents -- maybe just even a month or so in the "hood" can now verify others? That's just dandy. Even scarier than the first way to be verified! The group can be populated with transitory renters and people they claim live here. 3. Individuals who refer a new neighborhood and get them to sign up for Nextdoor and individuals who sign up a certain number of new members receive gift cards from Nextdoor. COLOSSUS sized for-profit companies are providing incentives and give away gift cards for recruiting new members and all from the goodness of their great big hearts. Awwwwww. Makes me tingle all over how kind they are. They even sport for printing and mailing costs to help recruit neighbors to join up! These guys really do care about us. Funny, I don't remember facebook, eBay, Amazon, Google, Twitter, Pinterest, Microsoft, etc., etc, etc. actively recruiting me to use their services and spending money to do so. 4. The default setting is set so that your complete address is displayed and even a map with the location of your home is shown. This can be changed to just your street location with no house number. Members are required to log-in with their real name. This is done in hopes that the conversations on the site will remain civil and polite. Too Much Information!!! Even if I take my address down from being displayed, it's not hard to find me. I own property here in Cabrini and a quick look at the Pima County Assessor's office will bring up my address! I can be civil and a verified resident but be a little "masked". This might work really well in other neighborhoods but I don't think the Cabrini neighborhood is well suited for this. Renters maybe but not property owners so much. Also, what if you own property here but don't live here? Can those people join? Hmmmmmm. In conclusion, as I stated right from the start, I think it's a GREAT idea BUT there's something hinkey or that I don't get going on here and I feel uncomfortable about it. Beware and be wary before you jump in and join. I genuinely want to see our neighborhood and it's residents become become more interactive but I personally am not feeling good that this endeavor is the way to do it for this particular neighborhood (or ANY mid-town Tucson neighborhood with a high rental demographics). I think another shot at a facebook group would be a WAY better option and the Group Administrator could really keep a proper handle on just who is a member. Nextdoor won't know when a Cabrini renter has left and they'd still be privy to the group. I don't like that at all. Here's a few links so you can investigate further: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/12/us-venture-nextdoor-idUSBRE91B0MV20130212 http://streetfightmag.com/2013/06/27/nextdoor-where-privacy-is-a-double-edged-sword/ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/on-nextdoorcom-social-networks-for-neighbors.html?_r=0 Lastly, I need to thank Meg and the Garden District for allowing me to lift some information directly from their May 25 Newsletter. Thank you Meg and the Garden District!!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |