New app helps to build a circle of trust in your area
A RECOMMENDATION from trustworthy neighbours is a sensible way to find reliable tradesmen – or any other form of service – and is made easier for those signing up to new app Nextdoor.
The free private social network, which launched in the UK last week, is designed to encourage neighbours to communicate more. Through it they can sell and buy unwanted items or share information about local events, lost pets, services – from babysitters to painters – and crime.
It has an ‘urgent alerts’ feature where information about an emergency, such as a crime in progress, can be texted as well as emailed.
Groupings are intended to be small – with 750 people at most – so all those signed up are hopefully within walking distance of each other. Michelle Lewis, 48, has already signed up to her local group in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and used it to find a tiler and carpenter. Mother-of-two Michelle, who is married to chartered surveyor Chris, 40, says: ‘We had an experience of a couple of rogue traders so I decided to try the app to find some recommended tradesmen instead.
‘I got some names straight away and they seem highly professional. They did work in the same street and I can go and check it out.’
Nextdoor has a manifesto that suggests ‘strong neighbourhoods can improve property values’ and demands members follow community guidelines to discourage unacceptable behaviour online, with personal attacks and bad language banned.
Members who fall foul of the app’s rules will face warnings and can be removed. Good behaviour is expected and neighbours who sign up must verify their address and use their real name to sign in.