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Facebook tests Facebook Neighborhoods feature

Written By Gracey Maala
Published • May 6th, 2021
Mobile AppsNews
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Facebook has started testing Neighborhoods, a place for users to create and develop local communities on the social media platform. According to Facebook, it is designed to help people connect with their neighbors, engage with their local community, and uncover new places around them.

To join and create a Neighborhoods profile, users need to be at least 18 years of age or older and then confirm their neighborhood. Users can also join Nearby Neighborhoods as well, giving them access to these communities and their posts.

When creating a Neighborhoods profile, users may choose to add their interests, favorite places, and a bio for people to view them on the Neighborhoods Directory. Users can also write an introductory post about themselves, engage in discussions with their neighbors, and answer Neighborhood Questions found in the dedicated feed. Everyone could also assume different roles like socializers who initiate conversations within the community.

Users can either join local Facebook groups within their neighborhood or create their own Neighborhoods-bounded groups with others based on common interests. Admins of local Facebook Groups can then add their group into Neighborhoods, providing real-life neighbors easier access to them. Meanwhile, users can also create or join Neighborhoods-bounded groups that are available within Neighborhoods.

The Neighborhoods also has a Recommendations feature where they can receive tips, suggestions, and advice from their local community. Furthermore, the Neighborhoods Favorite Polls lets neighbors vote for establishments such as restaurants, parks, and more, within their area.

As per Facebook, they created Neighborhoods to be this safe and inclusive haven with the help of Neighborhood Guidelines to keep it that way. Neighborhoods have moderators that will refer to these guidelines as they review posts and comments in the feed. And if a single post or comment were ever to disobey these rules, it will be hidden and reviewed by Facebook Community Operations. Now, if these posts or comments violated Facebook Community Standards, they will be permanently deleted from Neighborhoods. Users can also report posts and comments directly to a Neighborhood moderator or through Facebook’s reporting tool. Lastly, users can also block people on Facebook or Neighborhoods, leaving themselves invisible in the Neighborhoods Directory to the people that they have blocked.

Once users have joined Neighborhoods and/or Nearby Neighborhoods, the people within these online communities will have access to their profiles and posts. However, users could always make their Neighborhoods groups private, open, visible, or hidden. If users keep it in private mode, only members of the group who are part of the neighborhood could see the posts. On the flip side, if it were in open mode, anyone in the neighborhood or Nearby Neighborhoods could see the members of the group and their posts. If it were in visible mode, any member of the neighborhood could locate the group. And if it were in hidden mode, only members can find the group and view their posts.

Moreover, user activity and information in Neighborhoods may influence the different advertisements of Facebook Products, vice versa. Users may learn more about this in the Facebook Data Policy. Meanwhile, users can also access their Neighborhoods data in Facebook’s Access Your Information and Download Your Information tools.

At this time, the Facebook Neighborhoods feature is only available in Canada, but it will soon be accessible to select US cities soon.

Source: Facebook

This article was written by Julia Fernando.