Launched in October, Nextdoor is a free social networking service that connects you to your neighbors. While you may have friends on Facebook who live on the other side of the world, Nextdoor aims to do the exact opposite – connect those who live closest to you. The network only links people who have similar addresses and zip codes, so it is truly a location-based network.

If you’re ever in a pinch and need a sitter, it’s likely that you reach out to your friends via email or on Facebook asking for recommendations. You may get helpful responses like, “My niece babysits! She great, but lives about 30 minutes away,” but that doesn’t help when you need someone right away. It would be a lot easier if you could quickly check in with your neighbors and find someone local, maybe even right up the street.

Nextdoor may be the next big thing to let you do that.

Launched in October, Nextdoor is a free social networking service that connects you to your neighbors. While you probably have friends on Facebook who live on the other side of the world, Nextdoor aims to do the exact opposite – connect those who live closest to you. The network only links people who have similar addresses and zip codes, so it is truly a location-based network.

You can go to the website and see if there’s a Nextdoor online community in your area that you can join. If not, and you’d like to start one, simply enter your information into the system and then invite your neighbors to join. And for safety reasons, before members can join, they are verified in four different ways through Nextdoor’s system to ensure that they are indeed in your specified area.

Neighbors can undoubtedly be great resources for giving you recommendations, finding great local services, giving you toys their kids have outgrown, and of course, offering up great babysitters. You can customize your level of involvement once you’re a member and select which posts, emails, etc. you’d like to receive.

Nextdoor’s philosophy is to utilize the power of neighbors to build stronger and safer communities. In a world where technology is often blamed for disconnecting people, it’s nice to see a site that aims to do just the opposite.  

If you have a question for Screen Play or would like to submit a product for consideration, please contactLetsPlugIn@gmail.com.