Reports have emerged that new Facebook ‘Neighborhoods’ feature is a rip off of social media platform Nextdoor. As reported by Gizmodo, this comes just days after rumours emerged the company was chasing a multi-billion dollar IPO.
Facebook has also been hard at work developing some of its own original features in the last few weeks. For example, it began testing a new tabbed news feed for some Android users.
Facebook has also worked hard to improve its messenger offering. It has got a revamp and redesign with a fresh logo looking to reinvent the platform.
The prospect of Facebook ripping off another company’s feature is not the most shocking news. The company has form in taking features off of the likes off TikTok, Snapchat as well as many others.
Facebook reportedly rip off Nextdoor features
Facebook’s new ‘Neighborhoods’ feature has focussed on allowing users to “discover what’s happening where [they] live”. The new feature is currently under beta testing in the city of Calgary in Canada. As yet there is no confirmation as to when and if this will roll out further but there is certainly potential if all goes well.
Neighborhood groups offer users a feed full of posts and groups specific to their region. It also provides a marketplace of items for sale from folks in the area.
Users can also set up a Neighborhood specific profile on the feature. This will allow local users to see what you are about even if they are not friends with you. The feature also comes with reminders for users to be inclusive and kind regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender identity.
For Nextdoor users, this probably raises quite a few questions about a number of similarities. The fact that Facebook has included warnings about user behavior its the most intriguing thing about this.
The problem is that Nextdoor has a bit of a track-record for enabling casual racism and stereotyping. The fact that Facebook has recognized this problem demonstrates that they probably took inspiration and knowledge from the social media platform.
On the whole, this feature does not seem to be the most well thought-out prospect from Facebook. As mentioned, these Neighborhood groups often act as places to spread casual racism and stereotyping. Given Facebook’s track record of not really cracking down on this sort of behavior in a number of groups, the introduction of such a similar feature could cause a number of potential issues.