When Facebook began testing its new Neighborhoods feature in Canada last October amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the tech giant described it as a dedicated place for people to connect with their local communities.
Here, in a corner of the world¡¯s largest social network, people met neighbors, shared banana bread ingredients, helped locate missing cats and swapped local business recommendations, the feature¡¯s product manager Reid Patton said in a recent interview.
But Facebook, which is rolling out the feature in four U.S. cities ¡ª Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Charlotte, North Carolina; Newark, New Jersey; and San Diego ¡ª is already playing catch-up in the red-hot market for local social apps. Community site Nextdoor has emerged as a key player along with Amazon Ring¡¯s Neighbors and crime-tracking app Citizen. Nextdoor, which saw usage surge during lockdowns, reported 50% annual growth in daily active users last year.
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