Who will dominate neighborhood networking?
Locational social networking in the form of neighborhood networks is a space that's heating up. NextDoor was recently funded by Benchmark. And Chuck Templeton's OhSoWe, DeHood, NeighborGoods.net, GoGoVerde, and even Zaarly are in the game.
The classic example - the average power-drill is used for just 6 minutes in its lifetime, yet 50% of homes own one. Why not share or rent?
People already have a website for their social identity (Facebook), and a website for their professional identity (LinkedIn). Is the 'civic identity' next? We at localblu believe it is.
We're tackling the challenge of building neighborhood networks at http://localblu.com/. I think locational exchange networks are bound to come about. I agree many companies are in the space now and that it is heating up. Many of them, including NextDoor, use a system of address verification though - which I feel is sluggish. There has to be a better way to address the problem. I just checked and GoGoVerde is no longer in the game...wonder what they did wrong... (Obligatory disclaimer: I'm an engineer at Nextdoor.) GoGoVerde didn't do anything wrong, per se, but shutdown as a matter of funding. A few key folk from GGV are now working with us at Nextdoor, however, lending the experience gained from GoGoVerde. A bit more info here: http://redwoodcity.patch.com/articles/city-moves-virtual-nei...