Kyle
One of the fastest growing segments in mobile and web life these days is the social network. Of course MySpace and then Facbeook put the social network on the map but now there have been slices of the social networking pie, carved out in unimaginable ways, that work.
Earlier today we featured a social networking app for pets. There are social networks for picture takers, business people and crafters. Now that people have stopped sitting out on the stoop and grilling in the front yard, a social network is a great way to connect.
Speaking of that stoop and grilling in the front yard, that’s the foundation behind New Orleans’ startup Neighborland.
One thing that makes Neighborland especially intriguing is the fact that co-founder Candy Chang actually took something physical and made it digital. There have been a lot of startups launched to do the opposite, take printstagram and stitchtagram for instance.
Chang came up with the idea after doing two, almost installation art projects, one in New Orleans and one in Fairbanks Alaska. In New Orleans she stuck stickers to structures that said “I Wish This Was________”. In Alaska she draped an abandoned apartment building in a sign that said “Looking for Love” she also installed chalk boards all over the place around the building and encouraged passerby’s to write things down.
More after the break
Rather than a traditional social network where Bob who lives in the blue house posts a profile in hopes to meet Mary in the green house three doors down, Neighborland works to get neighbors involved in their local neighborhood and advocate for change. The overall goal seems reminiscent of Omaha startup MindMixer however its more of an open forum. Website fastcoexist likens Neighborland to a reedit for local communities.
For example someone has dropped a message on Neighborland that suggested Tulane needs a computer science department. Neighborland has already sparked change after the users banded together on Neighborland and started asking for the city to open up their municipal transportations GPS data so that developers could build a mobile app. A petition was generated with more than 300 signatures. The end result was that something that was on the transportation department’s agenda was pushed up a bit.
Neighborland is backed by an investment from the Obvious Corporation which is an incubator started by two of Twitter’s co-founders, Biz Stone and Evan Williams. Neighborland has expanded outside of New Orleans and now includes Boulder Colorado, Houston Texas and Minneapolis Minnesota.
Linkage:
Check out Neighborland for yourself here
source: fastcoexist.com
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