The Nextdoor app is, basically, a private social network that is designed for neighborhoods. It connects you and the people living in your local area so that you can share news, organize events, find services like handypeople and babysitters, get weather, traffic, and safety updates, buy or sell items, ask for reviews from your neighbors, connect with people based on your hobbies and interests, etc. The focus here is on interacting with your local community.
However, like any other socially-oriented digital platform, this app is no stranger to drama, weirdness, infuriating entitlement and narcissism, unexpected moments of kindness, and the like. The top moments—positive, negative, and amusingly confusing—get shared on ‘Best of Nextdoor.’
The mastermind behind the awesome project is Jenn Takahashi from California. Curious about all the different bizarre stories in her own neighborhood, she started building what would become a thriving, buzzing community.
It all started with her friends sending in posts from their own neighborhoods and eventually blossomed into a massive online group that sent her the funniest tips from the ‘Nextdoor’ app.
She officially launched the ‘Best of Nextdoor’ account on Twitter (back then, it was still known as that, not X) in late 2017.
Some of the most star-studded celebs who follow the project’s accounts include former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, model Chrissy Teigen, and actors Angel Kinsey, Rainn Wilson, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
“Nextdoor is intended to be a place where people post tips, updates, and concerns about their neighborhoods. It's where you share a photo of your lost cat or alert neighbors of a serial package thief. But anyone who frequents the website or app knows it's also a place where people stir the neighborhood pot by freely griping about the pettiest of things, such as a garden gnome being relocated three feet from its carefully chosen resting spot,” SFGate writes.
Back then, Takahashi, who was living in Glen Park, would log in on Nextdoor after work to get updates about the gnome situation in her neighborhood.
“It would bring me such relief. Whenever I would come home, no matter how crazy a day, it would be refreshing to go on Nextdoor and find this post about someone touching her lawn gnomes. It added levity and always kept things in perspective for me,” Takahashi opened up to SFGate.
“I don't know why, but Nextdoor rocks my world. It's so eye-opening. I'm a curious person by nature.”
For Takahashi, success revolves all around how she makes her followers feel. Namely, how the project makes them laugh.
“Someone recently sent me a video with her entire family around the dinner table cry-laughing while looking at Best of Nextdoor. I realized this is why I do it,” she revealed.
However, the founder of the project doesn’t just post anything on her accounts. One thing that she avoids is dog doo-doo because it is such a common complaint from neighbors everywhere. Another thing that she won’t post anymore about is people asking for their neighbors to, err, join their intimate relationships. “ I feel like anyone who has a Nextdoor account knows how crazy your neighbors really are. Why would you try dating them?"
What’s more, Takahashi refuses to “pots anything that puts a damper on your day.” The rule of thumb is that if it’s not funny, it won’t get featured!
