Nextdoor Announces New Feature to Promote Kindness in Neighborhoods
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Nextdoor is rolling out Kindness Reminder, a new feature encouraging positivity online and among real neighbors who connect on the platform. Nextdoor enables local conversations that empower neighbors to build stronger and safer communities, and this product feature is one part of a company-wide exploration of how to better improve neighborhood discourse.
Starting today in the United States, if a member replies to a neighbor's post with a potentially offensive or hurtful comment, Kindness Reminder will be prompted before the comment goes live. The message will give the member the opportunity to reference Nextdoor's Community Guidelines, reconsider and edit their reply, or refrain from posting. In early tests in the US, 1 in 5 people who saw Kindness Reminder hit "edit" on their comment, resulting in 20% fewer negative comments. Moreover, in areas testing Kindness Reminder, there has been a decline in how often it is prompted.
It is this idea of mindfulness and taking a moment to think before acting that led to the development of Kindness Reminder. "All the problems that we have out in the world and in society make their way online where you're encouraged to respond quickly and without thinking," shared social scientist and Biased author Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt. "That is exactly the kind of condition under which bias is most likely to be triggered." With the goal of enhancing community vitality, Nextdoor has assembled and worked closely with an advisory panel of experts, including Dr. Eberhardt, whose work explores the mechanisms and effects of bias, to develop ideas that can make online interactions more positive.
Kindness Reminder uses data gathered from comments previously flagged by neighbors on Nextdoor, and will employ machine learning to understand the nuanced ways incivility can show up between people. This feature joins a mix of solutions both tech-driven and powered by real neighbors in the greater effort to improve civility, while still fostering open discourse.
"As a company, we've been exploring how to continue bringing out the best in neighborhoods by improving the way neighbors can communicate on Nextdoor," said Tatyana Mamut, Chief Product Officer of Nextdoor. "As a connected world, we're increasingly lonely. Many countries are witnessing national trends toward divisiveness. Our neighborhoods are diverse and made up of different people with differing viewpoints — we champion that, and see kindness as an essential building block for creating stronger local communities that promote open dialogue and inclusion."
Neighbors in over 247,000 neighborhoods in ten countries are using Nextdoor to get connected, stay informed, and help each other in their everyday lives. People are increasingly turning to Nextdoor to find trusted, useful, and relevant local information to address their daily needs, form relationships in the real world, and build safer, happier communities.
Nextdoor will launch Kindness Reminder in the US today, where it is available in every neighborhood, and will roll the feature out globally over the coming months.
About Nextdoor, Inc.
Nextdoor is the world's largest social network for the neighborhood. Nextdoor enables truly local conversations that empower neighbors to build stronger and safer communities. Building connections in the real world is a universal human need. That truth, and the reality that neighborhoods are one of the most important and useful communities in our lives have been guiding principles for Nextdoor from the start. Today, neighbors rely on Nextdoor in more than 247,000 neighborhoods around the world in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark and Australia, with many more to come.
Nextdoor is a privately-held company based in San Francisco with backing from prominent investors including Benchmark, Shasta Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Riverwood Capital, Bond, Axel Springer, Comcast Ventures, and others. For additional information and images: nextdoor.com/newsroom.
SOURCE Nextdoor, Inc.
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