Nextdoor v. the community network literature

Do Nextdoor’s uses match the potential envisioned for ComNets

Bibliographic Data

ID21690098
AuthorsJonathan Lillie (0000-0003-3174-3010, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA, corresponding author), Matthew Achhammer (Emerging Media Master’s Student, Loyola University Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA)
Year2023
Volume29
Issue4
Pages901-918
Publication date2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueConvergence The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1354-8565 • E-ISSN: 1748-7382
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/13548565231174595
OpenAlexW4376646602
LanguageEN
References cited16

This study considers whether the use of the neighborhood-focused social networking web application, Nextdoor, might in certain instances rise to the level of community development envisioned over 25 years ago by “community networking” (ComNet) scholars. In the 1980s and 1990s, academics and journalists recognized the potential of “electronic community networks,” or ComNets, to help people connect with their geographic communities and help struggling communities with civic and economic development. Those early ComNets were described as helping residents to “get together” to tackle neighborhood issues from the grassroots. Through a case study drawing from interview data and participant observation, this study looks at how residents in a metropolitan US city and a nearby suburban area might, or might not, be using Nextdoor in these developmental ways envisioned by the ComNet literature

Community development · Community organization · Community organizing · Geography · Grassroots · Metropolitan area · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · E-Government and Public Services · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Social Media and Politics

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Open DOI