As with technology in general, social media is adapting and digital-interfacing is getting closer and closer to home. A plethora of available platforms cater to everything from world-wide communication and discovery to serving microcosms of society as immediate as a localized friend group.
Today, people can get to know who their neighbors are without even having to step out the front door. The Nextdoor app, for instance, provides a means for people to communicate with others within their neighborhood from the comfort of their recliner. There is a Glenwood Springs group, a Sopris Park group, a Missouri Heights group and the list goes on.
“Nextdoor is where you connect to the neighborhoods that matter to you so you can belong,” declares the app’s website. “Neighbors around the world turn to Nextdoor daily to receive trusted information, give and get help, get things done and build real-world connections with those nearby — neighbors, businesses and public services.”
Much like a Facebook group, say, the popular “Carbondale, Colorado” page, Nextdoor is a means for local information — from inside tips to lost pets, complaints and more — to circulate through the community via the internet. However, the Nextdoor app bases a user’s information intake on their location, by providing a list of local neighborhood groups to join.
“It’s been a great way to connect with neighbors. I love getting a heads-up if there is a fire, bear or mountain lion in my area,” Lynne Uhl, a member of the Missouri Heights group, told The Sopris Sun. “So far people have been good about not bringing politics or hate into our group,” he added.
Jamie Dooley, a member of the Sopris Park group — consisting of 210 members — echoed Uhl’s sentiments about Nextdoor groups tending to be apolitical, and more “focused on community concerns and events.” Plus, “I think it’s easy to navigate,” and conceded, “I do look at it every day.”
Lili Zwart moved to Colorado about a year ago and, “So far it has been really helpful to be a part of this platform,” she said of Nextdoor. Zwart especially appreciates the app for service referrals and buying local meats.
Friend-clusive
Another app that’s been connecting locals is called Discord. According to its website, “Discord is a voice, video and text chat app that’s used by tens of millions of people, ages 13 plus, to talk and hang out with their communities and friends.”
Chris Beisier and Blake Lockard are friends in the Valley and identify as part of the local LGBTQIA+ community. They sought a way to connect with local gay friends and initially used WhatsApp for an ongoing conversation.
Whereas WhatsApp provided a single stream with multiple subjects covered in the same thread, the Discord group offers tabs with various topics. So, within the server group there are separate ongoing threads for camping, skiing ventures, dinner parties and more.
Beiser described it as being “able to have multiple conversations about different things at the same time, without it being a constant stream for everyone.”
Lockard added, “What I like about it more than an app like facebook, is that it’s more conversational … It’s a lot more casual than these big official events that you see on Facebook.”
When people join the group they can introduce themselves within an “Introductions” thread and generally are expected to use their given name, rather than a made-up handle, so group members know who they are. This makes it more of a friends’ zone than an online chatroom. There’s a set of rules created by the administrators, which mainly boil down to treating one another with respect.
Discord groups can be public or private. There are no pop-up ads and, for such purposes described in this article, it’s free to use.
Beiser, who also uses the Nextdoor app, described it as similar to Facebook, “but for your local community.” He noted that Nextdoor is a good way to meet neighbors you haven’t yet encountered, whereas a private Discord group can connect already existing and tangible (non-virtual) friend groups.
“Members in the group [currently numbered at 45] can create an invite link to invite others, so you can still meet people, but they’re friends of friends,” clarified Lockard. So, there’s still the potential to meet new people, but one of your buddies is personally vouching for them first — much like the “real world.”