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Nextdoor Opens Its Doors to More Public Agencies

Nextdoor Opens Its Doors To More Public Agencies

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Nextdoor Opens Its Doors to More Public Agencies As reported on the California Special Districts Association (CSDA) blog, special districts can now have their own free Nextdoor Agency Page to communicate with residents within their district! The move comes after communications between Nextdoor and CSDA about the benefits this would bring to public agencies that didn’t previously fit into Nextdoor’s definition of a “public agency.”

Per their blog post:

“CSDA played a significant role working with Nextdoor to help in its policy development related to special districts. This multi-year effort began after receiving a wide range of inquiries from CSDA members, as well as anecdotes at CSDA conferences. Special district leaders clearly saw value in gaining equitable access with cities and counties to the platform to ensure communities served by special districts would receive the same access to information and resources they need.”

Tripepi Smith has been keeping an eye out for this announcement for quite some time. In July 2019, Nextdoor floated this concept at a “Bay Area Meetup” at their San Francisco headquarters. The CSDA blog post, as well as Nextdoor’s “Qualified public agency accounts” help article, spells out the qualifications for special districts to claim their own Agency Page.

We recognize that some public agencies view the social network as a thorn in their sides. After all, you are unable to participate in conversations in individual neighborhoods where complaints and misinformation can run rampant. Plus, a couple of years ago, the platform shifted to an algorithm for showing your Page’s posts to local Nextdoor members versus notifying every member of every Page post.

Despite those drawbacks, Tripepi Smith maintains that Nextdoor is currently the second-most important social network for public agencies to be on (behind the 800-pound gorilla that is Facebook). Even if only for access to the crucial “Urgent Alerts” and “Emergency Alerts” features that can sometimes reach more individuals than Nixle/Everbridge alerts.

If you are a special district looking to get started with your own Nextdoor Agency Page, Tripepi Smith can help. Contact us today for hands-on support diving into the world of Nextdoor for Public Agencies.