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Transcript

Nextdoor Is Changing Emergency Alerts — Here's What Public Safety Agencies Need to Know · The Alerting Authority

0:06
SPEAKER_01: I am Jeanette Sutton.
0:08
SPEAKER_02: And I am Eddie Bertella.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: And we welcome you to another episode of the Alerting Authority.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: And as always, we encourage you to subscribe, follow, listen, and most importantly, participate in these podcasts.
0:20
SPEAKER_01: We want your cons your questions, your concerns, your ideas, your problems, and your pain points, and your success stories.
0:26
SPEAKER_01: So we as alerting authorities can better do our jobs and make our communities safer.
0:32
SPEAKER_02: And Jeanette, isn't it just feel good to be home?
0:37
SPEAKER_01: It does.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
0:40
SPEAKER_01: We just got back from four days in Seattle.
0:45
SPEAKER_01: And from the East Coast to the West Coast, that is a long travel day.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: It is.
0:50
SPEAKER_02: And it's so fun being out there.
0:52
SPEAKER_02: And they were amazing hosts and everything else.
0:54
SPEAKER_02: But I'm telling you, there is no place like home, right?
0:58
SPEAKER_02: No place in your own like in your own community where you know everything and you know, you know, your neighbors and everything else.
1:05
SPEAKER_02: And it's just, it's always good to be here, which can I say is a total lead in to our topic today.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: It is.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: It's perfect.
1:14
SPEAKER_02: All right.
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Um and I'm saying because our our sponsor, it's cool because we have a sponsor, um, but we have an important topic, and there's a really cool opportunity we want to talk about next door.
1:27
SPEAKER_02: And and just to talk about next door just for a minute um beforehand, one of the biggest challenges in public alerting and warning is making sure we're actually reaching the people that need our information.
1:38
SPEAKER_02: It's a topic that comes up all the time.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: It does.
1:41
SPEAKER_02: Next door, and this is the entity next door, and the software that we'll talk about, and just the system, gives public safety agencies another way to connect directly with their communities.
1:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, a really fun fact, and I did not know this ahead of time, is one in three US households is already connected to nextdoor.
2:01
SPEAKER_02: Really?
2:01
SPEAKER_02: Every person that's connected is a verified resident of that individual network, of that next door group.
2:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, and what makes it particularly valuable is the ability to target uh communication specific to the neighborhood or the community, and even use custom graph um geographic areas such as flood or evacuation zones.
2:24
SPEAKER_02: And it makes it a really good way to target an actual community.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's just it's a way to expand your reach, connect with residents, make sure that important information gets out.
2:35
SPEAKER_02: And there are some pretty cool statistics that I have learned as I've looked into this here, and we've gotten the information that we're gonna show a little later in the show.
2:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I think you're gonna be really surprised.
2:47
SPEAKER_02: I know I was.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to hear about it.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: And our guest today is going to be telling us all about this system.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: So let me introduce today's guest.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: This is Joseph Rotelli, who joins us from Nextdoor, where he leads the public agency and disaster response work.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: Prior to joining Nextdoor, he launched Boston's first neighborhood social network for residents and civil servants at the Boston Police Department.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: He was the first community engagement strategist at the Department of Homeland Security.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: And he created FEMA's national preparedness community and built the community engagement practice at Gov Delivery, which is now Grenicus.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: He's also a global ambassador for Harvard's National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, the Preparedness Advisor for the Emergency Management External Affairs Association, and the Secretary of Vermont's Emergency Management Association.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: He's also a board member in his spare time of Atma Connect.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: He's got so much experience in the government communication space.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: It's really exciting to bring him onto the show to share with us his background and how he's bringing all of that to this technology that I think emergency managers really need to know more about.
4:06
SPEAKER_01: So, Joseph, welcome to the show.
4:08
SPEAKER_03: Well, hello, neighbors, and thanks for having me.
4:11
SPEAKER_03: I've been waiting to say that since you started the introduction.
4:15
SPEAKER_02: What's your walk-on song then with all of that?
4:18
SPEAKER_02: Is it the I love Vermont or what?
4:20
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I think it's like the Howdy Neighbor song, whatever that is.
4:24
SPEAKER_03: So I usually start with hey neighbors, and when people see me, they're like, hi neighbor.
4:27
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, hello neighbor.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: And it's great because if you don't remember somebody's name, you're just like, hi neighbor.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that uh what Mr.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: Rogers used to say when he'd walk in?
4:35
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:36
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: I love all that.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
4:39
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a pretty rich, you know, history of experience that you have.
4:45
SPEAKER_02: Um can you can you break it down and help us understand how you got into government communications?
4:51
SPEAKER_02: Because it sounds like there's a few different steps.
4:54
SPEAKER_02: And as Jeanette was reading, you know, your background, I'm like, okay, I can see this path, but then now we're over here.
5:00
SPEAKER_02: Now, you know, we move somewhere else.
5:02
SPEAKER_02: But it really seems like they're all connected and they have led to where we are now.
5:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think it really just comes down to I just I believe in the power of neighbors helping neighbors and getting accurate information.
5:15
SPEAKER_03: And so I think throughout my career, I've looked for different gaps.
5:18
SPEAKER_03: So when I was living in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood in Boston, the gap was neighbors weren't in communication and didn't really know each other, and they weren't getting important information from the police department.
5:29
SPEAKER_03: Turned out we had a bunch of violent crime.
5:31
SPEAKER_03: And I brought neighbors together and I started doing these social community socials, neighborhood socials.
5:38
SPEAKER_03: Neighborshood came, the neighbors came, and I invited the police department.
5:42
SPEAKER_03: And it was really fun.
5:43
SPEAKER_03: And we would have like a hundred people show up, and the cops would talk for a little bit and be like, hey, here's the things we need you to pay attention to.
5:49
SPEAKER_03: Like your neighbors are literally being mugged one after another walking home from the metro.
5:54
SPEAKER_03: And so when we learned this, we're like, usually, actually for the first month when we started organizing, neighbors stood on their porches and just like said hi to each other walking home, and crime dropped dramatically.
6:04
SPEAKER_03: And we also learned other things we could do, and it just worked.
6:07
SPEAKER_03: A little bit of coordination, a little bit of information, a little bit of cooperation, and things got better.
6:13
SPEAKER_03: And that kind of repeated itself throughout time.
6:16
SPEAKER_03: Um, I used technology to bring neighbors together.
6:19
SPEAKER_03: When I was at the Boston Police Department, you mentioned that earlier, Eddie.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: I used a social networking platform.
6:25
SPEAKER_03: It was called Ning, and it was a social network that brought neighbors in my neighborhood together, but also the police department had access, and so did the mayor's office.
6:33
SPEAKER_03: So neighbors were talking about all the neighbor things, and when needed, the police department would jump in and share information, be like, hey, we need to pay, we need you to pay attention to this.
6:41
SPEAKER_03: And that kind of blossomed.
6:42
SPEAKER_03: And from that experience, one day my phone rang and I got a call from a contact of mine that worked at Ning.
6:48
SPEAKER_03: He's like, Homeland Security is running a social network on border affairs, and they have no idea what they're doing.
6:52
SPEAKER_03: You're the only person with law enforcement, consulting, and like technology experience.
6:58
SPEAKER_03: You interested?
6:59
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, sure.
7:00
SPEAKER_03: So I drove to DC and told them about who I was and told them about how I operate, and they said, great, run this network for me.
7:06
SPEAKER_03: And I did.
7:07
SPEAKER_03: And then from there, Gov Delivery, actually, it was my friend Steve Wrestler, started a network called GovLoop.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: It was on the same platform, Knowledge Network for Government.
7:16
SPEAKER_03: He got acquired by Gov Delivery, and they wanted to build a practice building online communities for government agencies.
7:22
SPEAKER_03: So I was one of the first people in that space to help make that happen.
7:26
SPEAKER_03: And that led to FEMA creating community.fema.gov with the ready campaign.
7:30
SPEAKER_03: And that was like the first time I really scaled impact across the country.
7:34
SPEAKER_03: And that was kind of awesome.
7:35
SPEAKER_03: And so when I saw Nextdoor raising money and growing in 2013, I finally got the courage and wrote in and said, Hi, this is who I am.
7:42
SPEAKER_03: Love to talk to you guys.
7:43
SPEAKER_03: I got a call in five minutes.
7:45
SPEAKER_03: And I've been there for 12 years.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's that's amazing.
7:50
SPEAKER_01: And and um I know I know some students who are paying attention to your bio that you just provided and connecting all these dots of like, do this and be engaged in that and know these people and and opportunities, you know, and um that was that's a fantastic connecting story.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: I love how it all fits together.
8:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I think just for for the students, I want to say like I'm just really passionate and interested and curious.
8:17
SPEAKER_03: I like solving problems.
8:19
SPEAKER_03: So I'm more of a problem solver, problem solver who works for a company in like the business operations space.
8:27
SPEAKER_03: But it was really like that interest and curiosity that drove me and still drives me.
8:31
SPEAKER_03: I'm still trying to understand gaps and fill them.
8:34
SPEAKER_03: And that's what keeps me smiling and has me doing what I do.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and having a passion for your work makes all the difference.
8:42
SPEAKER_03: It sure does.
8:43
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
8:44
unknown: Yeah.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: So let's talk a little bit about social media.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, what do you, Eddie?
8:50
SPEAKER_01: What do you use social media for?
8:51
SPEAKER_01: We asked our participants this when we were in Seattle this week, and it was really interesting conversation.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: So, Eddie, what how many platforms do you have and what do you use it for?
9:01
SPEAKER_02: So, on a personal level.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:03
SPEAKER_02: Personal level, I mean, I think I'm in, you know, for my business.
9:06
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you check the LinkedIn and you check, I mean, if you were to go under Meta, right?
9:11
SPEAKER_02: You have your Facebook, you have, I would say that's kind of the main one, but then you have Instagram, right?
9:17
SPEAKER_02: For for those.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: But at the same time, what I have noticed for me is that there are people that I'm trying to connect with, but I have to use different platforms because not everybody's on the same platform.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: Um and if I'm trying to reach out to someone, they may use one specifically that that I don't use.
9:38
SPEAKER_02: And it's really difficult, I would say, to try to keep that connection.
9:42
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, we have our neighborhood one, right?
9:46
SPEAKER_02: Um, and to be totally honest, it it doesn't work that great because it ends up just being a complaint area.
9:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you get those that are heavily engaged in it and those that will check, you know, sometimes and and there is good information on there, but it just gets lost.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: I, you know, connecting with people that you're trying to keep up with.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: That's where I keep up with family and friends from many, many years ago on Facebook.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: For a long time, I was a user of Twitter.
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh I've started using Blue Sky more recently because there's a lot of academics that spend their time on Blue Sky.
10:26
SPEAKER_03: Very much so.
10:26
SPEAKER_03: I use it for the same thing.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Um, but my son, who's 21, he's an Instagram user.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: Um and uh he recently joined Facebook.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: And then I spend, as probably many people know, I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Um because I that's where I'm where I'm getting a lot of feedback and interaction around the thing that I'm passionate about.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: So uh, you know, we're using them for different purposes.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: And oh, and then we've got the alerting authorities on YouTube also.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: So we've got a lot of different channels we're making use of.
10:58
SPEAKER_01: Um and you know, so uh Facebook launched in 2004 and YouTube in 2005, then Twitter is 26, 2006, Instagram in 2010.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: We've got this like history of all these different tech technologies that are growing.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: And then Nextdoor was launched in 2011.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of a late comer, and it also functions really differently.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: So, Joseph, how how does it work?
11:24
SPEAKER_01: Tell us about Nextdoor.
11:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so Nextdoor is built from the ground up for the neighborhood.
11:29
SPEAKER_03: Our sole purpose is to connect neighbors to each other.
11:32
SPEAKER_03: Um, and since we've launched, we've evolved to include public agencies, which came online in like 2013-ish, I believe.
11:40
SPEAKER_03: And then more recently, publishers and journalists and small businesses.
11:44
SPEAKER_03: Um, but everything is around the geography of our home, our neighborhoods.
11:49
SPEAKER_03: And while the other platforms are great, like I use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family, Instagram, frankly, a waste time, kind of like that.
11:57
SPEAKER_03: Um Blue Sky, typically for learning and like for academics.
12:01
SPEAKER_03: Um, and then you know, I like Substack as well for learning as well, different topics.
12:07
SPEAKER_03: But coming back to next door, it's really just about what's happening in your neighborhood, how to connect with your neighbors, how to do stuff with and for each other.
12:15
SPEAKER_03: And on the public agency side, it's to learn about the things that are impacting you in your community, be it from you know, the public library events to, you know, I have road construction on my street right now, um, to, you know, crime in the neighborhood, to, you know, disasters and weather events that we hear from um emergency management agencies.
12:37
SPEAKER_03: So the common denominator is the neighborhood, not necessarily so much interests or things that uh are outside of your neighborhoods.
12:45
SPEAKER_03: And that's really the niche um that we fulfill.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: And only people who are in that geographical area are part of that conversation?
12:54
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so there's something like 300 and some thousand neighborhood networks around the world that are on next door.
13:01
SPEAKER_03: And uh in my community, I've joined my neighborhood network, and I can choose to see networks from outside of my neighborhood.
13:08
SPEAKER_03: Like, for example, I have a propane heater that I just I bought.
13:12
SPEAKER_03: I've never used it.
13:13
SPEAKER_03: I put it on next door, I'm actually putting it on this weekend, um, and I'll share it with as wide an audience as I can because I want to sell that thing and get out of my garage.
13:22
SPEAKER_03: So you have those kinds of choices.
13:25
SPEAKER_03: Um, but that that geography, if we also think of it in terms of proximity, it really helps because it actually increases trust, right?
13:33
SPEAKER_03: Like if if I post on next door, I'm looking for a plumber, and um, you know, five people recommend uh actually the plumber uses his name, Jeff Baker, Jeff's more likely to get business because if Jeff Baker was a bad plumber, which he's not, he's a great plumber, there's just that proximity in e increases trust.
13:53
SPEAKER_03: But the same thing also happens, right?
13:55
SPEAKER_03: If we think about like ground truth emergency managers talk about what's actually happening, when you hear your neighbors say, like the river's flooding down the street from me, like it's approaching my lawn, you're like, oh wow, that's really happening.
14:08
SPEAKER_03: So that matters from light lifts and things like just happening buying and selling, but also when things were more critical and life or properties threatened.
14:17
SPEAKER_05: Mm-hmm.
14:18
SPEAKER_05: Mm-hmm.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, one of the things for social media, like we were just going back and forth a little bit, that I know we get asked about, and I I get confused and concerned and frustrated with are the way that conversations sometimes happen just on social media.
14:35
SPEAKER_02: And I will be the first to admit that I will look at some of our neighborhood pages that are not next door, that that are just these groups, and I can see someone post something, and I'm like, oh great, someone just, you know, lit the fuse, talked about that barking dog again, talked about something, some traffic concern.
14:52
SPEAKER_02: And it's just gonna blow up with you know 80 comments that are just late, laden with sarcasm.
14:59
SPEAKER_02: They involve people not in our group.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: Like it's it just it gets a little crazy.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, not to say I haven't done that on purpose sometimes, if I'm you know, if I'm frustrated, I don't know.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: I probably'm not admitting to anything.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: But how is it different with with Nextdoor?
15:15
SPEAKER_02: And are there unique ways that that you guys help control or moderate conversations to keep it um productive?
15:24
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
15:25
SPEAKER_03: So uh I just I think I'll first by saying it's it's not an easy task, right?
15:29
SPEAKER_03: Um all platforms struggle with this.
15:31
SPEAKER_03: Something definitely happened after the pandemic, and people are a little more short-fused.
15:36
SPEAKER_03: Um what I can say though is that it's something we really care about.
15:39
SPEAKER_03: We have robust community guidelines in place.
15:42
SPEAKER_03: Uh we use machine learning, we have something called a kindness reminder, we have a transparency report we put out there, and there's volunteer community moderators.
15:51
SPEAKER_03: So um against our guidelines, actually, any member can flag content or report it that may not meet our community guidelines.
16:00
SPEAKER_03: Um less egregious reports a community moderator might look at, but we also have staff for things that are more serious that will actually go and look and make a determination whether or not this is something we should take action against or not.
16:16
SPEAKER_03: So we have these things in place.
16:17
SPEAKER_03: We know that people's experience really matters, so we've done a lot of investment in doing everything we can to help quell some of that stuff.
16:26
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's not an easy task.
16:28
SPEAKER_03: We're continuously learning, but it is something we care about.
16:31
SPEAKER_03: Uh and some of the, I mean, I think machine learning is really promising, and the kindness reminder does help.
16:36
SPEAKER_03: Um, we've seen, I think the stat, let me just look at it right here, 15% fewer violations since we've announced that.
16:43
SPEAKER_03: And overall, it's just over 1% of content.
16:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, let me just re make sure I'm referencing this correctly, um, was reported as harmful or violating our guidelines.
16:54
SPEAKER_03: So um there's a lot of investment that's been made, and we will continue to make investments to make sure that experience is is productive and feels neighborly on the platform.
17:07
SPEAKER_03: We don't always get it right, but we really try.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think one of the things that we saw pretty visibly during Hurricane Helene.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: This isn't about people not being neighborly, but it's more about how information was flowing on other channels.
17:25
SPEAKER_04: That's right.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: In particular, there was a lot of misinformation, there was disinformation, like intentionally sharing information that was false.
17:33
SPEAKER_04: You're right.
17:34
SPEAKER_01: And um and really misleading statements being made about FEMA and the response.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: And um, quite familiar with that.
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: So how does Nextdoor manage that kind of an issue?
17:46
SPEAKER_03: Let me talk about like structural design first.
17:49
SPEAKER_03: So earlier you mentioned verified residents.
17:52
SPEAKER_03: So I can't like join your communities and just start spewing stuff.
17:58
SPEAKER_03: It's not possible.
17:59
SPEAKER_03: And so you've got real residents in each of the neighborhood networks.
18:04
SPEAKER_03: That's the first thing.
18:05
SPEAKER_03: The second side of that is we do have public agencies.
18:08
SPEAKER_03: So when you were mentioning earlier geotargeting, there's next door the resident platform, and then there's next door for public agencies, which the government agencies have to apply for.
18:18
SPEAKER_03: We actually verify they are who they say they are.
18:20
SPEAKER_03: You know, there's like verified badges on other platforms.
18:22
SPEAKER_03: There's no unverified public agencies on next door.
18:25
SPEAKER_03: We do that right from the get-go.
18:27
SPEAKER_03: And so where there's active public agencies, they're able to put out accurate information, right?
18:32
SPEAKER_03: So you've got real residents, authoritative, accurate information from public agencies.
18:36
SPEAKER_03: And then we also have guidelines that it's not okay to share uh misinformation and disinformation.
18:42
SPEAKER_03: And when neighbors report that, we can take action against it.
18:45
SPEAKER_03: So it's a multi-layered approach.
18:48
SPEAKER_03: Um, I think from a government emergency management perspective, having that presence before a disaster, you kind of I call it like a deposit in the trust bank.
19:00
SPEAKER_03: If you're consistently communicating, you're communicating in a thorough way.
19:04
SPEAKER_03: Like I actually think there's a difference between what I call public affairs air game communications and um ground game customer service communications.
19:14
SPEAKER_03: If you're helping people solve problems that impact them and helping them to be aware of hazards they are going to experience in the real world, it does drive trust, right?
19:23
SPEAKER_03: And that's a theme here you'll hear me talking about today.
19:27
SPEAKER_03: And so that really matters, right?
19:30
SPEAKER_03: And what we saw, especially during Helena, is there was a lot of horrible misinformation, disinformation that was hurtful to many people.
19:38
SPEAKER_03: And so I think it's a long game play, but our structural design helps mitigate some of that just by how the platform is built and how neighbors use it and what we work with and give public agencies access to.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think that the things you're describing are really important for both populations that you're serving.
19:58
SPEAKER_05: That's right.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: The public, the users who are looking for accurate information from their peers, from their neighbors, from the agencies.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so managing it for that, but also managing the agency's experience of making sure that they're verified.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: And I know you're gonna talk in a little bit about how you help them to become visible on the platform.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: And so you as the as the neighborly next door person, you're helping to make that possible by setting guidelines and continuing to support those efforts on both sides and helping people to come together.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Um so I yeah, that's a really important task.
20:46
SPEAKER_01: And like you said, it's not easy.
20:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it isn't.
20:49
SPEAKER_03: But I think it's also one of the reasons why I appreciate getting to know you and incorporate your research.
20:55
SPEAKER_03: We'll talk about in a bit our uh behavioral comms and alerting prompt, like having that message have all the important information so people don't go looking, especially with alerts, is critical.
21:04
SPEAKER_03: So you're right, we do give people the platform, but having worked in government for the city of Boston and for Homeland Security, I know the internal challenges they face.
21:14
SPEAKER_03: So coming back to the my origin story, filling those gaps, I really want, I believe I need to provide uh the kind of supports and the guidance and the tools so they can be successful, so we mitigate misinformation, disinformation, and we get people to take actions that are of high value that help them flourish in blue skies and persist during gray skies.
21:40
SPEAKER_02: Well, I wanna I I I referenced earlier some of these statistics.
21:45
SPEAKER_02: And I I I think I threw in the teaser in the beginning to to Jeanette.
21:49
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I am amazed about some of these statistics and not just the one that says one in three households in the United States.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: But if I can uh just bring up and and I know we're going to talk about this, but I think it's pretty cool.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: Um, Jeanette, did you know that among next door users, right, out of that group, 20% of them are not on Facebook, 34% are not on Instagram, and 53% are not on X, formerly Twitter, form and it could be something else tomorrow, I don't know, but on the X Twitter thing.
22:23
SPEAKER_02: And just to think about that, we have people who are investing in these social media groups.
22:30
SPEAKER_02: And it really goes to show, I think, the the people that we're not reaching, right?
22:36
SPEAKER_02: If we focus only on social media, and it really goes to show what Nextdoor is essentially doing and how they are, they're saying, okay, those that aren't on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, or X, sorry, you're you are a part of your community and you're a part of this.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: And so while you're not getting the information on existing channels of others, you're getting it here.
22:59
SPEAKER_02: And for me, it's it's really interesting uh from that public safety agency space because this cool service, right, that we're talking about, it doesn't cost anything.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: There, there is no contract, it's absolutely free, and you don't have to create a new communications program.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: Um, you reuse information that you're already using on posting on other platforms, you can share updates and manage comments.
23:27
SPEAKER_02: And I think that's a really cool piece on your own agency posts without getting involved in neighborhood conversations.
23:34
SPEAKER_02: Um, another piece that I think was referenced is Nextdoor even offers free behavioral communications and a learning prompt to help agencies develop messages.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: And I think we'll talk more about that because um, Joseph, you just talked about that.
23:48
SPEAKER_02: But ultimately, at the end of the day, effective public communication is about reaching people where they are and looking at those statistics of finding out where people aren't.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: It's cool to see that Nextdoor can do that um through its through its own software.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: So, Janet, I don't know if you knew that stuff before.
24:07
SPEAKER_02: I think it's it's pretty cool.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: I didn't, but you know, we use different platforms for different purposes.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: And so obviously, Nextdoor is filling a niche that is not being met by the other platforms.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really important when we're talking about reaching people in the spaces that they use.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: Um this geographically defined network, it functions very differently than all of the other ones that are out there.
24:37
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's filling a gap that the neighbors are looking for.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: So I I think it's fantastic.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: And thank you for sharing those statistics.
24:47
SPEAKER_02: I'm telling you, it's there's like there's just cool information.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh I like an off-topic question because it just, as you're talking about this, how public safety agencies can use this.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: If I'm a part of a neighborhood that does not have a next door network or anything, is it hard to get?
25:06
SPEAKER_02: Is it hard to get that together?
25:08
SPEAKER_03: No, you simply download the nextdoor app if you're the first person.
25:12
SPEAKER_03: So all next door neighborhoods were created by a neighbor.
25:15
SPEAKER_03: So you download the app if you happen to be the first person.
25:18
SPEAKER_03: It's very rare that that happens anymore.
25:20
SPEAKER_03: You draw a boundary of what you think your neighborhood would look like.
25:24
SPEAKER_03: So you wouldn't have that context.
25:26
SPEAKER_03: And then we give you the ability to send invitation letters to your community to join, right?
25:34
SPEAKER_03: So you may not have their number, you may not know how to get in touch, but we provide those mechanisms to allow uh you to invite your neighbors.
25:40
SPEAKER_03: So um, from the ground up, when we started, there was one neighborhood in California named Lorelei where Nextdoor started way back in the day.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: So neighbors actually created this because they wanted this.
25:51
SPEAKER_03: It felt a gap, it filled a gap, right?
25:53
SPEAKER_03: And as you said earlier, on the public agency side, you have a built-in audience, and this is actually really important to share.
26:00
SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you're an agency and you apply, go to nextdoor.com forward slash agency, click the application form.
26:06
SPEAKER_03: When we build your page, you may have an audience if you're a small city of a couple thousand people, or a large city, a couple million people, or a state, millions and millions of people, whatever that is, uh, the audience is built in.
26:17
SPEAKER_03: You've got these verified residents, you can geo-target messages to specific, like, for example, a state, a county, or a city, or you know, all flood zones, or if you're a coastal state, like all your counties with flood zones are evacuation zones.
26:33
SPEAKER_03: And so you can reach a lot of people who aren't following you, who may not be following your other social platforms on next door.
26:39
SPEAKER_03: And I really think that is the gap we fill.
26:41
SPEAKER_03: So it's fun when I have conversations with folks and they're learning about, they're like, why did we not know about this before?
26:48
SPEAKER_03: It's a no-brainer.
26:49
SPEAKER_02: So if I download the app, right, I it'll I'll say where I live and it would show me existing if if I live in an existing neighborhood, right, of next door that I could then apply to join.
27:02
SPEAKER_03: So when you download the app, you just put in your name uh and your address, and we will place you right in the neighborhood where you live based on your address.
27:10
SPEAKER_03: So it's it's very simple, only takes a couple minutes.
27:13
SPEAKER_03: I will say though, the best time to get next door is before the next disaster because you want to be familiar with it.
27:19
SPEAKER_03: You want to build those relationships with your neighbors because that really matters.
27:23
SPEAKER_03: So I also say the same thing to uh public agencies.
27:27
SPEAKER_03: We will expedite your application during a disaster, but I'd much prefer that you have a presence beforehand so you can build that trust and you can educate your neighbors to do those preparedness actions so you're more um self-reliant and you can help those neighbors who might need it.
27:43
SPEAKER_03: Or if you can encourage those neighbors who might need help to ask for help from those neighbors because those agreements we know tend to save lives.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
27:51
SPEAKER_02: And it's one of those for all the EMs and anybody in a public safety agency or anything else, obviously you want to get people signed up ahead of time and you want to get them comfortable with the process before the emergencies start, because when the moment arrives, right, the time for preparation is over and you have to perform.
28:10
SPEAKER_02: And uh speaking of performance with in this um process and specifically more about alerts.
28:17
SPEAKER_02: So if I'm a public safety agency, and in fact, so when I worked for the California Patrol, um, we had plans like crazy trying to reach people because people, our audience was everywhere doing different things, right?
28:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, we tried to use Twitter and I think we were successful for a time, then it transitioned to X.
28:38
SPEAKER_02: We got X'd.
28:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean, a whole bunch of things.
28:42
SPEAKER_02: How does it work with alert providers?
28:44
SPEAKER_02: And now this could be I think if I'm a public safety agency that I have alert origination software, and and there are there's a lot of different versions out there, how can I incorporate next door without creating another like cumbersome step or process?
29:02
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
29:02
SPEAKER_03: So uh I'm gonna answer your question, then I want to give some important context.
29:06
SPEAKER_03: So right now, um, if you're a public agency and you use HyperReach, Connexus, or Civic Plus Mass Notification, there's an API access, there's a handshake.
29:16
SPEAKER_03: You publish on those platforms.
29:17
SPEAKER_03: If you connect next door, it automatically goes out.
29:19
SPEAKER_03: Good news for those folks.
29:21
SPEAKER_03: Um, we are also talking to some other major vendors, um, and hopefully they'll come online uh early next year or second quarter, is what I'm hoping.
29:29
SPEAKER_03: And that will be an unlock for many public agencies.
29:33
SPEAKER_03: The thing to know is that on Nextdoor, through the Nextdoor for Public Agency platform, there are four post types.
29:40
SPEAKER_03: Um, one of those is the alert.
29:42
SPEAKER_03: And the alert on Nextdoor is an incredibly powerful tool.
29:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, an alert bypasses our algorithm.
29:49
SPEAKER_03: It goes to the top of our newsfeed, it creates an in-app and a push notification, and it sends an immediate email to neighbors.
29:57
SPEAKER_03: Uh, nextdoor, we're not trying to be a doom scrolling platform.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: Um, so this matters because somebody may not be on Nextdoor yet today, or they may not log in for a couple days.
30:08
SPEAKER_03: That uh those notification types, like there's a really important message from your local government agency, right?
30:16
SPEAKER_03: And it's emergency managers post alerts, police post alerts, fire post alerts, city administrative agencies post alerts.
30:23
SPEAKER_03: There's many alerting types.
30:25
SPEAKER_03: Um, and so those notifications get people's attention.
30:29
SPEAKER_03: And I was actually just talking to someone in a major state yesterday, um, and I asked, like, how many people are signed up to receive alerts in your state?
30:38
SPEAKER_03: And it was just a couple hundred thousand.
30:40
SPEAKER_03: And on Nextdoor, there were millions of people they could reach.
30:42
SPEAKER_03: So when we think about alerting products, they're all opt-in except for WIA.
30:46
SPEAKER_03: You know, we understand that, but the audience on Nextdoor is typically larger.
30:51
SPEAKER_03: And so there's a it is worth, even if you don't have that API integration, there are certain hazards that, in my opinion, are worth you logging into Nextdo, copying that message, you need using the warning lexicon, of course, um, and posting that message on Nextdoor.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: I just love that this is a network that's already built for emergency managers in so many ways.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: This is it's not about getting people to sign up for a new platform, which I know so many emergency managers struggle with trying to figure out how do they increase their enrollment and their opt-in alerts.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: And this is one of the things that we try to explain in many of our trainings.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, but next door doesn't, you're not trying to get people to sign up.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: They're already there.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: You're just you're joining their community, which is a different approach.
31:46
SPEAKER_03: It is.
31:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it totally is, and it really matters too.
31:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, and you even coming back to Eddie's question, you know, it we do understand that you know, alerting warning coordinators, alerting folks have a workflow and it goes through these tools.
32:04
SPEAKER_03: So the you can while you can do it on the platform, you know, you post something on your tool, let's say you reach 100,000 people, you post something on next door, you could reach many more than that.
32:14
SPEAKER_03: So it's really kind of I hate to use this term, but I've worked in federal for a long time too.
32:19
SPEAKER_03: You know, a force multiplier.
32:21
SPEAKER_03: I call it a new I'm sorry, man.
32:24
SPEAKER_03: Are you gonna go?
32:25
SPEAKER_03: I know sometimes that throws people in shock.
32:27
SPEAKER_03: Work with stay with the interview just got better, right?
32:30
SPEAKER_03: Because you're using the the term.
32:32
SPEAKER_03: So I mean, is it it is just such a powerful tool.
32:36
SPEAKER_02: And um again, well, like one of my favorite things with talking about tools is whenever we like I like to review policies of organizations, and it's tell me what you do, why you do it, right?
32:51
SPEAKER_02: And the kind of the reasoning behind it.
32:53
SPEAKER_02: I know we get into procedures and that, but you will see a list of things that they will do to reach out to people.
32:59
SPEAKER_02: And one of my favorite questions, if I'm having a one-on-one with them, is okay, I see you're taking this step to use this platform to push information out.
33:08
SPEAKER_02: What's your audience?
33:10
SPEAKER_02: What's your response been?
33:12
SPEAKER_02: Have you found success with it?
33:14
SPEAKER_02: And more often than not, I get I do it because it's listed in there.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: I I don't I don't know.
33:20
SPEAKER_02: Well, what's the response you get from the public?
33:22
SPEAKER_02: Well, I I really don't know on that one.
33:24
SPEAKER_02: We just put it out there because we need to put it out.
33:27
SPEAKER_02: When if you have a limited amount of time, a limited amount of staff, limited amount of everything because welcome to government, and especially if there's such a high urgency, um, my recommendation to them is do the things that are the most effective, do them first, right?
33:47
SPEAKER_02: I mean, put that at the top.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: And if you have to go through every other step, okay, that's fine for policy, but reorder it to be the one where you're reaching people where they are first and then go to the next one.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: So it kind of goes to what you're saying.
34:01
SPEAKER_02: And and again, there there is not one system out there that that does everything, right?
34:07
SPEAKER_02: We're our hands are in a lot of different places.
34:09
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
34:10
SPEAKER_02: And so identifying the most effective one first, second, and third, I think is gonna help anybody who's pushing out alerts.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I agree.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: So Joseph, we've talked about um the the way that the system works, that uh emergency managers are joining existing geographically targeted, defined, geographically defined neighborhoods.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: They can put their alerts out and they get promoted to the top of the feed.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: They show up in emails.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: Let's take that and translate it to some examples where this has actually worked in real time.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Can you share some of those stories with us that help to really put some context to all this?
34:54
SPEAKER_03: I can.
34:55
SPEAKER_03: I want to just clarify one thing.
34:57
SPEAKER_03: And just because I I get this all the time, do I have to join each neighborhood network?
35:01
SPEAKER_03: You do not.
35:02
SPEAKER_03: So if you're a town with 10 neighborhood networks, that they can already hear from you.
35:07
SPEAKER_03: If you're a large city and there's hundreds, they can already hear from you.
35:10
SPEAKER_03: If you're a state and there's thousands, you pick and choose where you post.
35:14
SPEAKER_03: You don't have to join and you're not moderating a million conversations.
35:18
SPEAKER_03: Uh you know, our our alerting functionality has been used so many times in lots of different examples.
35:24
SPEAKER_03: Um, I'll I'll speak in general here.
35:27
SPEAKER_03: Um we see alerts used all the time for things like uh, you know, major highway closures.
35:32
SPEAKER_03: Like Alaska State Police posted something like a year ago when I don't know the name of the highway, but it's a big one that goes through the whole state.
35:39
SPEAKER_03: Major accident, not good.
35:41
SPEAKER_03: Like you just can't get through.
35:42
SPEAKER_03: So they put an alert out statewide to let everybody know.
35:46
SPEAKER_03: Um, we consistently see alerts out for things like tornado warnings for Hurricane Isaiah.
35:52
SPEAKER_03: Alabama Emergency Management puts them out for Isaiah.
35:55
SPEAKER_03: This, I think it was a couple weeks ago now, just to let people know this is what's happening.
35:59
SPEAKER_03: This is where you need to, this is what you need to do, here's where you can get more information.
36:04
SPEAKER_03: Um during Hurricane Harvey, actually, um, if you remember a couple years ago, that was a really intense storm.
36:11
SPEAKER_03: The water rose very quickly, it was unexpected, and those agencies were using next door to like, here's where it's flooding now, go up to the second floor.
36:20
SPEAKER_03: And I remember there was um, I I there were, I think it was a police officer put an alert out, and this really, I I it just kind of a scary situation.
36:32
SPEAKER_03: It's like if you were on the second floor, you need to get on your roof now so you don't get trapped in there, right?
36:38
SPEAKER_03: Like, holy crap! Like that that's a frightening situation, but they got the message out.
36:42
SPEAKER_03: Wave a white flag so the helicopters can see you.
36:46
SPEAKER_03: So there are so many different ways you can use this for.
36:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, and it it can be very important.
36:53
SPEAKER_03: It's you know, we we try and define because it's such a powerful tool.
36:57
SPEAKER_03: You know, we we we we think it's appropriate to use alerts when life or property is threatened, when there's like I just saw an alert yesterday, I forgot the agent's name, but nine my mom went down, right?
37:07
SPEAKER_03: Which has happened.
37:08
SPEAKER_03: Actually, last year uh there was an issue when a Wii alert was issued in Massachusetts, I think, and it went also into Connecticut.
37:15
SPEAKER_03: Not good.
37:15
SPEAKER_03: Like Connecticut put out an alert.
37:17
SPEAKER_03: Hey, we're okay, guys.
37:18
SPEAKER_03: That's it just doesn't apply here.
37:20
SPEAKER_03: Um so uh as I was saying, life or property, um, availability of services, and also infrastructure, right?
37:28
SPEAKER_03: Like things that are gonna jack up your day, right?
37:31
SPEAKER_03: Like those highway closures.
37:33
SPEAKER_03: When 95 in Philadelphia, that little bridge fell down, right?
37:37
SPEAKER_03: Alerts went out to let folks know, hey, we got a big problem here, folks.
37:41
SPEAKER_03: So it all depends what's happening.
37:43
SPEAKER_03: And it's that, you know, it's it's that you made a really good point, Eddie, earlier about those protocols and your policies, when do you use things?
37:51
SPEAKER_03: It's very important that public agencies incorporate next door into their crisis communication plans and that they have multiple administrators on the page.
38:00
SPEAKER_03: Because if, you know, Eddie is the director and out on vacation and I'm uh a PIO, if I don't have access to nextdoor, then I can't be helpful, right?
38:09
SPEAKER_03: So making sure that that is operationalized so everybody can issue those alerts.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: Well, one of the like the strengths of the wireless emergence sealer, right, is it can reach so many people.
38:23
SPEAKER_02: And we get to 98%, right, of households have a Wii of capable device, all those cool things.
38:29
SPEAKER_02: But there are drawbacks to it as well, um, where it is it is text only.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: If you update, I mean, you're essentially sending out this new tone and everything.
38:39
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's a lot to it.
38:41
SPEAKER_02: Again, super powerful tool.
38:43
SPEAKER_02: I'm a huge proponent when it is used appropriately, right?
38:47
SPEAKER_02: By trained personnel with the right wording, all those things.
38:51
SPEAKER_02: Um, it seems that we're next door becomes a really good supplement to that because there are other, there's more information that can be sent and managed within within next door.
39:03
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
39:04
SPEAKER_02: That can really act as that support.
39:06
SPEAKER_02: Because again, there's no pictures.
39:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, there's you can do links, but there there are things that limit the Wii A.
39:14
SPEAKER_02: And you you guys expand on that, right?
39:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
39:17
SPEAKER_03: So you can have a picture, you can have a video.
39:19
SPEAKER_03: It can, there's, I think the character limits like 10,000 or something ridiculous like that.
39:24
SPEAKER_03: Um, and so that though that really helps get the information out.
39:28
SPEAKER_03: Also, neighbors can comment on those alerts and you can have two-way conversations.
39:33
SPEAKER_03: I know that there are some PIOs that are like, I just can't handle that, and they'll close the comments down, which is okay, but I actually think they should always leave them open because neighbors can learn things from each other.
39:44
SPEAKER_03: And you know, we talked about misinformation, disinformation.
39:46
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes people get things wrong, but I haven't seen too much evidence that suggests that um like there's been any egregious situations.
39:57
SPEAKER_03: And what I hear from PIOs is I like getting the situational awareness, that ground truth, because people respond and give us information, right?
40:04
SPEAKER_03: And you've got to they have to do their due diligence and verify stuff, but it can be very helpful.
40:10
SPEAKER_03: So to answer your question, yes, you can have a picture, you can have a video, unlimited characters, and you can allow conversations.
40:17
SPEAKER_02: Because I look at the potential success stories, right?
40:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, one of the things that Jeanette and I have um jumped into, I'd say more recently, are are children with autism or even adults.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, we have statistics and information that is just really sad uh that the those that are found deceased, right, after a search, um, I mean, we're into the 80 plus percentile of those that are found deceased in water.
40:45
SPEAKER_02: And the whole idea is we're talking about a wireless emergency alert, which I think is a great idea in a hyper-targeted area.
40:53
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think this would be an example of something that would be an immediate supplement to that to be able to provide a picture of the individual, um, a picture of the community, and even if it's a video saying, look, you know, we need your help for these reasons.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: Because again, as as we talk about these networks, these these neighborhoods, I mean, we can select a specific one as a public safety agency, right?
41:18
SPEAKER_02: To say, this is the target area.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: I don't need to go beyond.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: Is that correct?
41:23
SPEAKER_03: It is.
41:24
SPEAKER_03: And actually, in fact, Nemek will email me when a child wanders and they want to help get it found.
41:30
SPEAKER_03: So I carry my laptop everywhere I go.
41:32
SPEAKER_03: People, why are you carrying your laptop?
41:33
SPEAKER_03: Long story.
41:34
SPEAKER_03: It's part of my work, right?
41:35
SPEAKER_03: But um because and I correct me if I'm wrong, like a wandering child does not qualify for an Amber alert, right?
41:44
SPEAKER_03: But on Nextdoor, we give agencies leniency to use it in the ways they see fit, given the criteria I shared earlier.
41:51
SPEAKER_03: So you can use that for all these other types of alerts that may not qualify, which can be very helpful.
41:57
SPEAKER_03: The second thing I want to just weave in here is, you know, because you can push a message out to neighbors, um, but you can also suggest ways neighbors can help each other, right?
42:07
SPEAKER_03: That connectivity is really important.
42:09
SPEAKER_03: So in the case of a child that's has wandered, hey, this child is out there, the message could also be an action is go outside and look around your yard in your home.
42:20
SPEAKER_03: See if you know, find that person.
42:21
SPEAKER_03: If you do, call this number.
42:23
SPEAKER_03: And you know, if you want to organize a search party with your neighbors and go walk the field or the woods or the park or whatever that is.
42:29
SPEAKER_03: So coming back to that neighbor multiplier, um, it's a way to activate your residents to take high-value actions that can help them stay safe and help their neighbors stay safe.
42:43
SPEAKER_02: No, like one thing Jeanette um highlighted in in Seattle.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: And again, those that were a part of our class in Seattle, if you're listening to this in the podcast first, thank you.
42:53
SPEAKER_02: Like they they were a wonderful, wonderful class and super engaged.
42:59
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, jumped into every scenario.
43:01
SPEAKER_02: There's one with a child with autism, and and we gave them this scenario and they came up with a you know a good message and everything else.
43:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, Jeanette pointed out something that's super important, and I think you you mentioned it there for those.
43:15
SPEAKER_02: It's it's check water first, right?
43:17
SPEAKER_02: And and she hit that like we need to provide that type of that type of guidance because there are we we can't deal with assumptions in emergency management, right?
43:27
SPEAKER_02: In life safety.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: As soon as you if you're in charge and you're working off assumptions, you're you're opening up a can.
43:34
SPEAKER_02: Um because you just you just can't assume people know all those different things.
43:38
SPEAKER_02: Um but can I, and this is I think it may spark another little conversation because we've had multiple people on the show that have talked about AI, right?
43:49
SPEAKER_02: And this is a developing field.
43:52
SPEAKER_02: And I know as soon as we start talking about AI, I think people are gonna be like, okay, I stayed on listening because I want to know more about this.
44:01
SPEAKER_02: You guys have an AI or a prompt for AI generated messages or something to assist in the creations for public safety agencies.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: Is that is that correct?
44:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we call it the behavioral comms and alerting prompt.
44:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
44:15
SPEAKER_02: Can you can you walk us through that?
44:16
SPEAKER_02: Because I think sometimes people are immediately like, nope, nothing AI can't use it, versus I don't want the other side where I know I'm gonna have Jeanette probably be like, er, is when you get the people that are like, I don't need to learn how to send messages, I'll just throw it into AI and let it do everything.
44:34
SPEAKER_02: Which by the way, folks, it can't.
44:36
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
44:37
SPEAKER_02: But can you walk us through?
44:39
SPEAKER_02: And I'm sure Jeanette will have a follow-up or two.
44:42
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
44:43
SPEAKER_03: So um, you know, we started off the podcast talking about like, you know, how I got my career started and how I've always looked for gaps.
44:50
SPEAKER_03: And when I looked at um a lot of the data across next door and the type of messages people were posting, they're great messages.
44:57
SPEAKER_03: They didn't always get people to act.
45:00
SPEAKER_03: And so I have this engagement formula I use in my head.
45:03
SPEAKER_03: It's pretty simple.
45:04
SPEAKER_03: Motivation plus supports minus obstacles equals engagement.
45:07
SPEAKER_03: And the thing I can influence the most is supports, right?
45:10
SPEAKER_03: Through the platform.
45:12
SPEAKER_03: And so I invest a lot in training.
45:14
SPEAKER_03: We have online courses.
45:15
SPEAKER_03: We even have a content library on our resource hub, which has like 120 posts that are well written, that we've written with our partners, you know, government partners, federal, nonprofit to help people save time.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: They don't always fit.
45:29
SPEAKER_03: And so as I was learning about AI myself earlier this year, um, getting to know Claude and I was learning about prompts, I wondered like, could I make a prompt that would help people, help government communicators get more people to act?
45:43
SPEAKER_03: And so uh I was actually introduced to Dr.
45:46
SPEAKER_03: Laura Myers at the University of Alabama, and I spoke to her, and we're like, oh my God, this is awesome.
45:53
SPEAKER_03: We totally geeked out for like two weeks.
45:56
SPEAKER_03: That was the first iteration of the prompt.
45:58
SPEAKER_03: And I learned that people have biases that prevent them from acting.
46:02
SPEAKER_03: It hasn't happened here.
46:04
SPEAKER_03: Um, I'll do it later.
46:06
SPEAKER_03: Like all these kinds of things that get in the way.
46:08
SPEAKER_03: And so as I learned more about them, like, oh my God, this is a really serious problem.
46:12
SPEAKER_03: And I don't often see messages addressing that.
46:14
SPEAKER_03: Behavioral science isn't woven into enough of government communications.
46:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, and actually, in fact, when the pandemic happened, I did some work with the behavioral insights team.
46:27
SPEAKER_03: I think they're out of the UK, around vaccine uptake.
46:30
SPEAKER_03: And that was my first introduction.
46:31
SPEAKER_03: So I've kind of been listening for this and didn't quite understand how to apply it generally.
46:36
SPEAKER_03: And then after working with Dr.
46:38
SPEAKER_03: Myers, I'm like, this is really cool.
46:40
SPEAKER_03: And then I forgot how I heard about you, Dr.
46:43
SPEAKER_03: Sutton, but like I saw your work.
46:45
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh my God, this is awesome.
46:46
SPEAKER_03: So I sent you an email and I'm like, can I learn?
46:50
SPEAKER_03: Can I play with your research and weave it in here?
46:52
SPEAKER_03: Would you be comfortable with that?
46:54
SPEAKER_03: And you said, yeah.
46:55
SPEAKER_03: And then I started asking you a billion questions.
46:58
SPEAKER_03: And now I've got your warning lexicon and your post-warning lexicon built into the prompt.
47:03
SPEAKER_03: And actually, it was one of the things you shared with me that really kind of opened up my eyes.
47:06
SPEAKER_03: And Eddie, this addresses what you said.
47:09
SPEAKER_03: Eddie, you know, AI can't write, and it's a turnoff for a lot of folks.
47:12
SPEAKER_03: Dr.
47:13
SPEAKER_03: Sutton, you had said that it's really important that the AI teach people how to write, not just do it for them.
47:19
SPEAKER_03: That made tons of sense to me.
47:21
SPEAKER_03: And so this prompt, um, you go to nextdoor.com forward slash comms prompt.
47:27
SPEAKER_03: Um, you can either copy and paste the prompt or download the text file.
47:31
SPEAKER_03: By the way, I update it sometimes twice a week.
47:34
SPEAKER_03: So always go back and grab it there.
47:36
SPEAKER_03: Um, but you put in, it'll ask a question like which agency do you represent?
47:39
SPEAKER_03: What are you communicating about?
47:41
SPEAKER_03: And if it's anything that has that's alert worthy or alert-like, it will say, Okay, and it jumps you right to like getting to write because we know folks don't have time, they got to get it done, but it forces questions about what's happening and it walks through all the five core principles of the warning lexicon.
48:01
SPEAKER_03: So it's helping to write and it's teaching at the same time.
48:05
SPEAKER_03: And at the end of the prompt, it's like you need to review and verify all this is correct, right?
48:10
SPEAKER_03: So it's an assistant, it's an educator, and it also is a, we think, a very helpful tool for folks.
48:16
SPEAKER_03: And so we'll actually be by the time this uh podcast airs, we're gonna put some put out the word in some PR and some op-eds about this.
48:25
SPEAKER_03: And so um very excited about it, but mostly grateful to you, Dr.
48:30
SPEAKER_03: Sutton, for working with us and helping us develop this because I think it's gonna be really helpful for folks.
48:36
SPEAKER_03: And I will I will just say too, is if you try it and you think we can improve it, please reach out to me.
48:41
SPEAKER_03: My email is joseph at nextdoor.com and I'd love to learn about your experience and we'll make it better.
48:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I remember when you reached out and um I was shocked, is not the right word, but um intrigued and also just really happy to know that the academic work that we'd been doing for so long was going to be incorporated into more tools that are being built that can be applied immediately by emergency managers.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: And I think you asked me like who's responsible for sending these messages?
49:24
SPEAKER_01: Is it PIOs?
49:25
SPEAKER_01: Because that's my audience.
49:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, it's not PIOs, it's it's emergency managers, it's it's alert and warning um coordinators or dispatchers.
49:35
SPEAKER_01: Um and uh it's really hard to get the word out to them.
49:39
SPEAKER_01: And so finding out that there was an opportunity for next door to use the research we've been doing to reach this other audience, that was really thrilling to me.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: Um because it's just so important.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: And I still wholeheartedly agree that we have to teach in addition to show.
50:03
SPEAKER_01: Um we we can't just be reliant on AI to do everything for us.
50:09
SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much for making that part of the emphasis of the tool that you've built.
50:14
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
50:15
SPEAKER_03: Um I I I I've really been enjoying this process because I'm learning a lot.
50:20
SPEAKER_03: Um, but it also I think there's a lot of people that, you know, people go into civil service because they want to make a difference and have impact.
50:27
SPEAKER_03: And so working together through your research and our tools, and frankly, the breadth and reach of all the thousands of public agencies that use our platform is just a really great partnership.
50:38
SPEAKER_03: I I I I do want to address one thing.
50:40
SPEAKER_03: You said it is a um alerting coordinate or warning coordinators on Nextdoor.
50:46
SPEAKER_03: It typically is PIOs, but one of the things I learned from you is that we should probably start reaching out to those folks as well and make sure they have access to Nextdoor.
50:54
SPEAKER_03: So that's given us some really interesting direction uh to do.
50:58
SPEAKER_01: So Yeah, yeah.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: PIOs are are an obvious choice to be utilizing the tool that you've built and to be think learning more about how to craft really good alerts and warnings.
51:10
SPEAKER_01: And um it's uh it's a it's an odd skill that's not generally covered in PIO classes.
51:17
SPEAKER_03: It's not, it should be.
51:18
SPEAKER_03: Maybe we could make a maybe we should work on that a little bit together.
51:21
SPEAKER_01: I love that idea.
51:23
SPEAKER_01: And being part of the emergency EMEAA.
51:30
SPEAKER_03: Emergency Management External Affairs Association.
51:33
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
51:34
SPEAKER_03: Struggle with that too.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know.
51:36
SPEAKER_01: Being part of that group, I'm I'm also part of that group.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's a real opportunity to help to bring this information to a broader audience.
51:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, come join us at emea.org.
51:52
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a great idea.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:55
SPEAKER_00: So final thoughts.
51:58
SPEAKER_03: You know, um I think I'll I'll say a couple things I've said already today, but it's really important to have access and be comfortable with using next door before the next disaster hits.
52:12
SPEAKER_03: It's really important to think about communications, not just from telling people, I mean, it's very important emergency managers make the case or what they do, and people understand, so they appreciate that, but to educate their residents so they are ready themselves and they step outside their door and cross the street to help their neighbors get ready and self-reliant.
52:34
SPEAKER_03: That connectivity is really important.
52:36
SPEAKER_03: So when you use next door, I highly suggest using our poll functionality for preparedness, readiness, messaging, using our alerting functionality with the comms prompt or taking your warning lexicon and post warning lexicon into account.
52:51
SPEAKER_03: Um, and I also just invite folks to reach out.
52:54
SPEAKER_03: I'm curious.
52:55
SPEAKER_03: I want to learn what are your what are what's working really well?
52:58
SPEAKER_03: What problems are you trying to solve?
53:00
SPEAKER_03: Reach out to me.
53:01
SPEAKER_03: And uh to get started with Nextdoor, simply go to nextdoor.com forward slash agency, and you can reach me at joseph at nextdoor.com.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
53:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:11
SPEAKER_01: Well, I've really enjoyed the conversation today.
53:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we we hear from emergency managers an awful lot about the use of social media, and we've seen social media kind of go on a bit of a roller coaster of it had its ups and then its downs, and it it remains a really uh key and important way to reach people.
53:31
SPEAKER_01: And so this was, I think, a great conversation about I think probably a platform that doesn't get enough attention.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: Um and but knowing that there's so many users that are already on next door, it really does deserve an additional look.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: So thanks, Joseph, for being part of this conversation.
53:52
SPEAKER_01: I've really enjoyed it and I think that we've learned a lot today.
53:55
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, neighbors.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and just as she said, I think this this fills a generational gap that exists between, you know, again, going through you have those on Facebook, and then you have others that go on Instagram, others that are on even more different you know, different ones.
54:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, and the fact that they're like, Well, I'm not joining Facebook, you know, you need if you're gonna reach out to me, you know, it's gonna be on X or it's gonna be Blue Sky, it's gonna be whatever it is.
54:25
SPEAKER_02: This is one that everybody can be a part of.
54:28
SPEAKER_02: And you're not necessarily following all the trends because there will be a new social media platform that comes up.
54:35
SPEAKER_02: I'm not actually, I don't know in advance, but I'm telling you historically, guys, there's gonna be a new one that pops up.
54:40
SPEAKER_02: Like that it happens when you see a transition.
54:43
SPEAKER_02: But but next door is something that will be within the community, your community, throughout all those different transitions.
54:51
SPEAKER_02: So I don't know.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: It's like I said, I've I've had a lot.
54:54
SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm looking into you.
54:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm telling you, I'm going to download it.
54:57
SPEAKER_02: All right.
54:58
SPEAKER_02: So you'll have you'll have one in three households plus the Bertola household, right?
55:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be a part and I will actually I will follow up and share my experience with you if that helps at all.
55:11
SPEAKER_03: Wonderful.
55:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, but just thank you.
55:14
SPEAKER_02: Again, this is the Alerting Authority, and um, we're really here to help you.
55:18
SPEAKER_02: If there's anything that any of you guys need, if you want more information about Nextdoor, please reach out.
55:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, if you want information about um the Warn Room, about publications that are coming out, about all these different things, about uh us actually helping you with your policies, practices, coming to where you are to do training, just just reach out.
55:38
SPEAKER_02: We're we're very easy to contact and we enjoy hearing from all of you.
55:43
SPEAKER_02: Um we love telling your story because we truly believe that every second has a story.
55:49
SPEAKER_02: And this is an episode where we get to help share another one that we've learned about today.
55:54
SPEAKER_02: So thank you and have a great day.