Nextdoor will remind users to keep conversations ‘constructive’ and ’empathetic’

Neighborhood social network Nextdoor is trying a new way to keep conversations respectful. The company is rolling out a new feature that will prompt users to keep conversations “constructive” when the app detects that a particular topic might turn negative or overly controversial.

With the change rolling out over the next few weeks, users will see a large pop-up reminding them “you can set the tone” before they can add to the discussion. “Show your neighbors what empathic conversation should be like,” it wrote.

It’s an approach the company has tried before. Nextdoor introduced In 2019, a pop-up shows up when the app detects someone might be about to post a hot comment. Last year, it launched a similar reminder to promote language among its users.

What sets these latest notifications apart is that they appear proactively, before the user types a comment. This feature uses machine learning to detect when a conversation between neighbors might be about to become an issue, looking at factors such as the rate at which comments arrive as well as whether people are active in a thread. has been reported in the past.

According to the company’s Chief Product Officer, Kiran Prasad, the goal is to engage people before they engage in a discussion that could go awry. Once you’ve started typing in an answer, he says, “you want to get to a certain level because you’ve written a lot of things.” If people can see the prompt before they start writing, the hope is that they’ll be more likely to respond thoughtfully or not even jump in.

For a service often noted for allowing people to have more basic instincts (there’s a reason why apps should actively remind users ) predicting when a conversation is likely to turn negative can have a sizable impact.

“It will start to establish a tone that these are the types of conversation that are appropriate or inappropriate on the platform,” says Prasad.

Nextdoor isn’t the only platform trying these types of reminders in an effort to make people better together online. Twitter reminded users to rethink meaningful tweets and said the reminders led to in harmful responses. TikTok has adopted a similar measure, prompting users to “reconsider” before posting offensive comments. Instagram there is a “push” against bullying.

Prasad says that early tests of Nextdoor’s “constructive conversation” prompts have been very positive, although it has resulted in some reduction in overall engagement on the platform. “We think it’s still the right thing to do.”