Meet Google Neighbourly app: Latest ‘serious’ challenger to Facebook, Whatsapp – How to use
Finding a small shop or knowing the nearby milkman or a housemaid, Google is making it easier now to know all these. Google has come up with its Neighbourly App that facilitates users to ask questions to those in their neighbourhood. It also allows answering questions asked by others. It allows users to do activities like alerting their community to a spate of vehicle break-ins, recommend a trustworthy local mechanic or a great plumber, ask when the roadworks down by the local park will be complete, grab the contact details of a good local babysitter, sell an unused sofa, organise a neighbourhood watch group, ask for time of school bus and much more.
The app uses familiar social networking techniques, much the way Uber passengers can rate drivers, Neighbourly users accumulate credibility scores based on how others rank their responses.
Here are the steps to use the app;
1: Go to Play Store and search for Neighbourly app. Download and install the app on your smartphone.
2: Open the app. Sign into your Google account.
3: Tap the green button at the bottom that says ‘Continue as (Your name).’ The app seeks permission to access device’s location.
4: It will locate user’s GPS position, that sets the neighborhood accordingly. You will be required to accept certain guidelines, called the Neighbourly Promise.
What is Neighbourly App?
Neighbourly, the hyper-local social network was unveiled in India in May 2018, by Google’s Next Billion Users program. The neighborhood network lets people share local expertise and crucial information with others in the vicinity. The crowd-sourced recommendations range widely from your kitchen needs to other daily requirements.
The app allows users to ask questions and get answers from other users in their neighbourhood and surrounding area. Google has started the pilot run of the app in Mumbai.
Users can type or use voice to answer neighbours’ questions, in own languages. A user can ask and answer questions without sharing private details. The app only shows the first name while keeping the phone number, full name and other information private. A user’s profile photo cannot be enlarged or stored, unlike in other apps. Upon signing up, everyone pledges to keep the community safe and refrain from posting inappropriate or spam messages.
According to Google, “Neighbourly is the human, helpful, and local way to ask and answer questions.”
With almost a half billion Indians now using smartphones, Google sees an opportunity to become a one-stop shop for search, social networking and payments, and even challenge popular social networks like Whatsapp and Facebook.