• by Colin Kirkland , 4 hours ago

Neighborhood-based social media network Nextdoor wants to provide consumers with an alternative to bot-generated reviews on platforms like Yelp by launching a hub on which users can recommend local businesses.

Currently live in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., “Local Faves” spotlights local businesses near users, sorting them by category and rank derived from user-posted reviews. 

According to the company, the in-app hub uses generative AI to summarize “relevant insights from 15 years of real neighbor knowledge and distills local business information.” 

In addition, AI-powered ranking systems are tasked with “improving what neighbors see,” while posts mentioning businesses automatically tag the local business and link to their new “Business Pages.”

Business pages include the local business’s contact information, user-posted recommendations, business-created posts, and results from Nextdoor’s annual “Fave Awards” program in which neighbors vote for the local businesses they think are best. 

“Online, though, reviews can be bought, manipulated, or faked,” Nextdoor CEO and co-founder Nirav Tolia said in a statement, adding that the approach “mirrors the value of real word of mouth: a real neighbor, in a real neighborhood, sharing a business they've actually used.”

Leading business-review platforms like Yelp have struggled over the years with bots posting fake reviews to impact a business’s success, constantly removing and flagging suspicious reviews.

Nextdoor believes its platform will not have that issue. Upon creating an account, users must submit their address. The app also uses geolocational tracking; if a user’s physical location doesn’t match their address, they will be blocked. 

Furthermore, to submit a “Fave,” or review, a user must be verified. According to the company’s announcement, these reviews feature “no tiered stars, no paid reviews, no anonymous voices, no manufactured credibility.” 

To further develop its local business offerings, Nextdoor plans to launch a new business dashboard interface, as well as a designated feed for local businesses.