Nextdoor is the new social networking site that all your neighbors will be talking about.

We recently became fans of the new social networking site, Nextdoor.com, which is designed to connect people to others in their own neighborhood, and let members know of things going on nearby.

When co-founder Nirav Tolia launched the site he pointed out “There are so many ways our neighbors can help us,” he said, “but many of us don’t know our neighbors, or how to contact them.” Now nearly a year later there are neighborhoods all across the country using the site, and cities as big as San Jose are using it to relay important information to residents.

As the first private social network for your neighborhood, the types of things you see on Nextdoor are charmingly mundane — recommendations for a plumber, garage sale notices, burglary warnings — things like that. But in a world where “social networking” largely means Kim Kardashian Tweeting about her shoes and former friends Facebooking their party pics, isn’t it refreshing to have a site that’s actually relevant to where and how YOU live?

Stronger neighborhood connections means safer neighborhoods

Service referrals seem to be the biggest thing on the site. Just recently we’ve seen people ask and get excellent referrals for a house alarm company, a plumber, an opthamologist, a nanny, a dermatologist and an upholsterer. I guess our neighbors need help!

But what we really enjoy about the site is how welcoming it is to people who would run screeching from Facebook. Members run the entire spectrum of society, and in San Francisco include people well known to readers of SFluxe, like Trevor and Alexis Traina, Dr. Alan Malouf and Dagmar Dolby.

Somewhat surprisingly, we found thatNextdoor isn’t yet active in the neighborhoods of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerbergor Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. But it’s coming…

Above Photo: Benchmark’s Matt Cohler with Nextdoor CEO Nirav Tolia

Article by DAMION MATTHEWS
Photography DREW ALTIZER
http://sfluxe.com/2012/08/26/whos-next-door-on-nextdoor/