Nextdoor has a few mottos. One of them is Everyone is a neighbor. Another adage is Nextdoor is the essential neighborhood app where community and camaraderie come together. A third axiom states The neighborhood network that connects neighbors with each other and everything nearby. Solid and compelling descriptions for a social media app. But those are just words. Numbers speak too. Nextdoor’s neighbors exceed 90 million in eleven countries. They boast 335,000 neighborhoods globally. One in three U.S. households are using Nextdoor to share and seek information. Five million business have claimed pages. Almost 6,000 public agencies leverage Nextdoor. Wait. 6,000 public agencies are using Nextdoor! This is where emergency management’s opportunity comes in.
Unique
Nextdoor neighbors can check in daily to receive trusted information, give and get help, and build real-world connections with those nearby – neighbors, businesses, and public services. I know this because I am one of those neighbors. I go to Facebook to check on what’s new with my friends. I engage on LinkedIn for professional development. I occasionally go to Snapchat to check on my daughter to make sure she is posting appropriate material and TikTok for a few laughs. I go to Nextdoor to get timely, essential, and actionable information about what is going on in my community, especially in terms of those public services. And often related to emergency management issues.
I checked Nextdoor to see where the power crews were restoring power. On Nextdoor I found the location of a disaster recovery center. And in the fall of 2023, while an escaped convict was on the loose within miles of my home, it was Nextdoor and my neighbors there that gave me reliable information that informed my decision-making on how best to safeguard my family. Those are my experiences. But the service is more robust and unique from other social media than just my experiences.
Nextdoor for public agencies increases preparedness and trust and accelerates recovery. Nextdoor reaches people where they live about where they live. Posts can be geo-targeted to post locally relevant messages, polls, events, and emergency alerts to neighborhoods, service areas, or to the entire municipality. The audience is built-in – every person using Nextdoor in a municipality’s jurisdiction can automatically see posts by public agencies – they do not need to fave, like, or subscribe. There is also nothing to moderate outside of the comments to posts that emergency managers author, because they are not exposed to what neighbors share. There is no way for neighbors to @mention or tag public agencies to neighbor-to-neighbor posts. Public agencies can educate, encourage action, and measure behavioral change, with surprisingly little work.
Nextdoor can, and does, do all of this before, during, and after an event.
Before
During blue skies can push seasonal preparedness messaging, even if it is a simple cut and paste from Ready.Gov downloadable materials, taking static material from the shelf to a delivery system. As disasters are approaching and impending, Nextdoor can send out alerts like traffic advisories, weather warnings, and essential reminders on topics from medicine, to pets, to photos for insurance purposes.
During
While an emergency is occurring, Nextdoor can push timely emergency alerts, like road closures, power outages, areas of threat or concern. These can be a combination of risk and crisis communication messages as the situation requires. Police, Fire, EMS and other services can synchronize their messaging with their emergency management agency’s Nextdoor account. Disaster damage can be measured, captured in imagery, and shared in near real time. Through Nextdoor’s Help Map, neighbors can ask for help and/or offer help dealing with a natural disaster.
After
Nextdoor can also post and push locations for food and water distribution points, shelters, recovery centers. Nextdoor can connect neighbors to individual assistance, by county (just how disasters are declared) and guide them on SBA loans through infographics, texts, and links. Public agencies can prioritize those services they need to communicate, to whom they need to communicate, where they need to communicate, and how long they need to communicate it. These messages can also include volunteer resources, volunteer opportunities, and how to donate to them. And through each of these stages, Nextdoor can continue to educate, inform, and measure indicators.
Resources
Public Agencies who have an account can access a substantive Resource Hub, where they can find pre-scripted content and infographics the can build upon. At the Hub they can also track Events, People, Messages, and Training.
Nextdoor maintains a Help Center for public agencies with accounts. This site comes with the promise of a 24-hour response time, 7 days a week. Beyond that, they have a Training Manual for public agencies. This site contains a two dozen specific areas of training to achieve greater results.
A particularly useful tool for emergency managers is Nextdoor’s Crisis Communication Guide. This resource includes messages and best practices to maximize reach and engagement. Equally useful is their library of Poll Examples that can help decision makers get useful feedback, without having to reinvent the wheel.
Did I mention that all of this is 100% free? Tomorrow you may face a disaster. Today, you can apply for a Free Public Agency Page. To see if your agency is eligible, click on Qualified Public Agency Accounts.
Nextdoor is invested in public education. So are emergency managers. The marriage of capabilities is clear. You just need to say, I do.
For more general information, visit Nextdoor.com or to seek specific help, you can visit their Help Center.
Dan Stoneking is the Owner and Principal of Stoneking Strategic Communications , the Author of Cultivate Your Garden: Crisis Communications from 30,000 Feet to Three Feet , the Founder and Vice President of the Emergency Management External Affairs Association , and an Adjunct Professor for Public Speaking at West Chester University.