The 5 Types of People You Meet on Nextdoor

Photo courtesy of Nextdoor / Getty Images

For people looking to interact online with their neighbors, one of the most popular platforms is Nextdoor. The neighborhood networking app allows people who live in the same area to post local updates, share business recommendations, and buy and sell goods. Since its founding in 2008, Nextdoor has evolved into a sort of hybrid app: part Facebook, part Yelp, part Craigslist. In the U.S., a staggering 1 in 3 households uses it.

But Nextdoor isn’t all business reviews and neighborhood cheer, though. Like many other social networking platforms, Nextdoor has attracted a subset of users who live to broadcast their opinions and insights within the online community—whether the community wants them or not.

The company says it’s committed to curtailing toxic content and even created an algorithm that prompts users with a “kindness reminder” if their post reads overly argumentative. Today, Nextdoor reports that less than 1.5% of content on the site can be considered “harmful and hurtful.”

So while a majority of the posts on Nextdoor are harmless, the platform is notorious for being a digital bulletin board for hilariously awkward content posted by passionate citizens with a propensity to overshare. Whether they’re reporting a noise disturbance, posting about a local election, or asking their neighbors to help identify a swarm of bugs inside their home (yes, this is an actual post we’ve seen), here are the most common types of users you’ll meet on Nextdoor.

1. The busybody

Many Nextdoor users liken themselves to reporters with a duty to share hyperlocal news on their neighborhood page.

“There are reports on neighbors who don’t mow their lawn enough or let too many weeds grow,” says Lorraine Sullivan, a writer based in Omaha, NE. “Some paparazzi types are constantly sharing ‘interesting’ footage from their home security video cams. And some people share every sighting of foxes, coyotes, or dreaded pests.”

And then there are the extremely opinionated, nosy users posing as concerned citizens.

“The overwhelming majority of the users are extremely opinionated and constantly want to stick their nose in other people’s business,” says Scott Harvell, the owner of Quick Sale Homes in Jacksonville, FL. “It’s crazy—I feel like my mother is commenting on every post and disguising herself as a concerned neighbor.”

2. The noise police

Helicopters overhead, that single loud explosion that’s probably just a firework—neighborhoods can be rife with noises and concerned citizens trying to identify the disturbance. If you’re familiar with Nextdoor, you know your local noise police will be on the case the moment the racket occurs.

“I was one of the first people on Nextdoor in my neighborhood in Sacramento in 2012,” says Rose Cabral, a real estate agent with Lyon Real Estate. “Whenever I hear a loud noise in the neighborhood and I’m not sure what it is, I just check Nextdoor. It’s more than likely that someone has already posted asking if anyone heard the noise, and others start sharing theories on what it could possibly be.”

3. The lost-pet post patroller

Losing track of your furry friend is one of the worst things a pet owner can experience, and Nextdoor has become one of the first places people post about losing—or finding—a lost pet. But be aware that no good deed will go unpunished.

“I remember saving a dog who was obviously lost, but still had a collar on,” explains Brittany Mendez, chief marketing officer of Floridapanhandle.com. “We took this pup in and posted on the app that we had him, but a lady told us to take down the color of the collar and to reformat the post because ‘the owner should know what color the collar is,’ as if we hadn’t done due diligence and hadn’t saved strays before. People are extremely strange sometimes.”

In some communities, the lost-pet post has almost become a meme.

“We all call it Nextpet as a joke because there are so many posts about lost pets there,” Cabral says.

4. The neighbor most likely to make a citizen’s arrest

There are a lot of shady happenings in communities across the country, and some neighbors take to Nextdoor like Batman would take to the streets of Gotham.

“My favorite posts on Nextdoor involve scams,” says Luke Lee, CEO of Palaleather. “I spend a lot of time on there, and there are so many posts on suspicious activity. Honestly, those posts make Nextdoor a more entertaining place.”

Others are less amused by those types of posts and believe these concerned neighbors are doing more harm than good.

“What started as a great app is now mostly showing the true colors of my neighbors,” says Andreas Grant, founder of Networks Hardware. “I mostly end up coming across posts about people who got reported doing something deemed ‘suspicious’ while they were just minding their own business. Sometimes it’s about someone cycling around an area that looks ‘suspicious’ or a teenage kid who might be a possible drug dealer. I have turned off notifications from this app. I don’t mind a few gossipy posts, but reporting people in this way seems outrageous to me.”

5. The community builder

Sometimes, Nextdoor does what it appears to be designed to do: It builds community.

“We moved into a golfing community,” Harvell says. “My wife plays golf, but nowhere near the level of interest that I have. Nextdoor was fantastic for her to quickly find groups in the community that matched her interests, while I was out golfing.”

While he could do without some of the zanier and more opinionated posts, Harvell says that overall, Nextdoor truly has allowed him and his wife to get to know their neighbors: the good, the bad, and the nosy.

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