Updated at November 21, 2018:
Google is rolling out its hyperlocal crowdsourcing-style Neighbourly App across India to all cities/neighbourhoods. You could now freely sign up for the services and ask questions, submit answers, and follow others on topics interested to you. You could download the Neighbourly App from Play Store.
Our original story from Wednesday, November 21, 2018, follows:
When you move to a new neighbourhood, it is always difficult to get to know the locality. The first thing you would do is, ask around, but you’ll be hearing different suggestions. In the end, you might take the wrong step, and here is where the Google’s Neighbourly app can play a role. So let us find out the different perks of using this new social app from Google.
Google has created this wonderful social networking app with which you can learn about your neighbourhood. Basically, the app lets you ask questions and also give answers about your locality using text or voice. But the fact is, these questions and answers are accessible to all the residents. So in a way you are helping each other to find services, facilities and relevant and updated information.
Get Expert Local Answers
If you have any questions like which is the best school for kids? where to find the best electrician? etc, just ask it in the app. The best thing is you don’t even need to type. Google’s speech recognition can transcribe your questions in eight Indian dialects. So it will feel like you are having a casual talk with your neighbour. In short, your question is reaching a community of neighbours and you will probably get a satisfactory answer.
Give or Share Expert Opinions
Do you know your neighbourhood better? then give your advice to new and existing residents. If you don’t know the answer, then also you can help by sharing the relevant answer to a question. The more you help, the more you get to know your locality. This, in turn, makes your neighbourhood more informed and updated. But make sure you are giving the reliable information.
Stay up-to-date With Local Community
Well, if you don’t have any questions or answers, you can simply swipe around the app and gather information. You can also star questions to follow it if you find it relevant. The app also allows you to share the answers or suggestions with your friends on other social platforms.
Safely Connect With Neighbours
Neighbourly offers privacy and it matters most when you are sharing information with new people. However, you need a profile name(your first name) and a profile picture to start posting questions or answers. All other personal information like full name, phone number and other contact information can be completely kept private. Moreover, there is no private messaging feature within the app.
Conclusion
This is not the first app from Google created for hyperlocal services in India, we already have the Areo for it. To add, the reviews on Google Maps also can help the residents in a similar way. But it seems they have found some shortcomings which could be met with the new app.
Neighbourly app is still in beta stages, but the good news is that Google is piloting this app in India, starting with Mumbai city. But if you aren’t a Mumbaikar, you can still download the app and signup to be notified when your locality gets listed. So here is the download link for the app, hope the article was informative, Peace!