If you have not yet heard of Nextdoor social media service, you soon will. It is promoted as your friendly neighborhood news service, and it can be, but there is more to its story.
Nextdoor is now another Big Tech company that is continuing to grow rapidly by collecting massive amounts of information from its users through data mining, including full names and home addresses. Nextdoor says posts made to its website are available only to other Nextdoor members living in the same neighborhood. But your data? Well, that is apparently up for grabs.
If you are a social media junkie, there isn’t anything I am going to write — or anything you are going to hear from someone else — that is going to change your mind until the practices of Big Tech companies negatively affect you or your pocketbook. That day may be coming sooner than you think. Meanwhile, there are a few things you should know.
Nextdoor was founded in 2008 by Nirav Tolia, Sarah Leary, Prakash Janakiraman and David Wiesen. Early investors included Benchmark Capital, Shasta Ventures and Rich Barton. It is now available in more than 275,000 neighborhoods in 11 countries and is valued at $2.1 billion.
Nextdoor has been criticized for being fear-based, reaffirming class and racial biases, and spreading conspiracy theories. Yes, this sounds like most any other social media outlet, but what makes Nextdoor unique is also what makes it the most dangerous. On Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and other platforms, usernames and profiles are created with members often “fudging” on names, ages, education levels, marital status and more. Not on Nextdoor. Here you must provide your real name and your real home address, which sounds reasonable until other users show up at your front door based on what you posted. All those keywords you use in your posts can now also tie directly to your real name and real address, which are gold to those who prosper by selling your data. This makes a hacker’s job easier, too, and they don’t need help.
Of course, Nextdoor says it has your privacy as a top priority — as long as it doesn’t conflict with raising the company’s value. To be fair, Nextdoor has helped many people with specific needs. But the question remains: Is it worth having your personal data compromised to be able to seek out advice and meet people through this platform? The answer ties directly to your risk tolerance, your trust of Big Tech, and whether or not you have had to deal with personal data theft before. As always, you should do your own research, and you can start here with Nextdoor’s recently updated, 24-page, 7,576-word privacy policy: https://legal.nextdoor.com/us-privacy-policy-2021
Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman