Community platform app Nextdoor has launched a revamped version of its service adding local news and real-time alerts, including from the London Standard.
For many years, Nextdoor has been a well-liked forum for local discussions, facilitating connections between users around topics like plumber referrals and restaurant recommendations.
It now provides real-time information on storms, wildfires, traffic, weather, and power outages. These notifications will show up on a dynamic neighbourhood map, enabling neighbours to discuss safety and readiness in real time.
To power these alerts, the service is collaborating with Weather.com and Samdesk, which includes Weather.com and The Weather Channel app.
In order to provide news to the platform, Nextdoor has collaborated with 3,500 local media in the UK, US and Canada including The London Standard.
Follow The Standard on Nextdoor here, and receive the latest news from your area
The objective is to provide authenticated reporting from reputable sources to Nextdoor's archive of user-generated information.
Anna van Praagh, Chief Content Officer of the Standard, said: “We’re excited to partner with Nextdoor UK in launching their local news platform, becoming the first partner in both London and the UK.
“This collaboration ensures that millions of Londoners across all 33 boroughs stay informed with timely and relevant news. Together, we're enhancing community engagement and strengthening our commitment to delivering quality journalism directly to where people live and connect, making local news more accessible and impactful than ever.”
“This is a refounding moment for Nextdoor,” said Nirav Tolia, CEO and Co-Founder of Nextdoor. “Neighbourhoods matter more than ever, and today we recommit ourselves to building the best product to enable neighbours to come together and build stronger, safer and more connected local communities.”
Nextdoor has also partnered with other organisations including utility companies, local governments, and law enforcement to help power more alert services.
The app has also incorporated a new AI-driven recommendation engine called Faves. The application generates hyperlocal recommendations based on queries such as ‘what's the best dog park in the area?’ by using a sizable language model that was trained on over ten years' worth of proprietary Nextdoor discussion data.
The AI chatbot may be used to ask users specific questions about their neighbourhood and provide recommendations based on publisher aggregated material as well as neighbour insights.
The new Nextdoor is available now on the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and at nextdoor.com.
In order to take advantage of these new elements, users must make sure they are using the latest version.
