NABO: A NEIGHBOURHOOD SOCIAL NETWORK WHERE GOOD NEIGHBOURS BECOME GOOD FRIENDS!

In the 1980s and 90s, we used to watch the much-loved Australian soap opera Neighbours after school. At the weekend, people went out and played with their real neighbours instead. We grew up thinking that everyone in the country was friends with their neighbours. But our expectations of neighbourliness died as we grew older. What happened to the days of neighbours becoming good friends? With so many of us working long hours, taking the kids to and from school, studying, commuting, going to appointments or a million other things, it can be difficult to get to know your neighbours.

But Australians no longer have an excuse not to know their neighbours’ names. The social network Nabo aims to change this. That’s right, Nabo is a free social media platform that brings neighbours together. It tries to turn neighbours into friends, just like in the good old days. The founder of Nabo, Adam Rigby, recalls being raised in the kind of neighbourhood in which all the kids messed around together and the families often gathered together for barbecues: “Talking to people now, this kind of thing is happening less and less,” Mr Rigby said. “It’s such a shame as there are so many benefits from having a tight-knit community.”

He wants Nabo to become the third social network in Australia: “You have Facebook for your friends and family, LinkedIn for your career, and Nabo for your local community,” he said.

Nabo is specific to your local area. Upon sign up, users are required to enter their street address and are then allocated to a group consisting of others from their community. It gives you a directory of your neighbours and local businesses and a diary of local events. The site also works to create a safer suburb. Members can send urgent alerts via SMS, and authorised local organisations (such as police and emergency services) can send alerts for emergencies. More than 6,000 suburbs across Australia are already registered on Naboo. Its target is to reach 1million users by the end of this year.