NEIGHBOURLY operations director Sarah Moore has responded to criticism levelled against the social media platform.
Ms Moore denies that Neighbourly puts subscribers on several separate mailing lists in order to make it difficult for them to leave.
“No, this isn’t true,” she said. “All Neighbourly emails include a link to the user’s email settings where they have the option to unsubscribe from all emails by clicking one button.”
Ms Moore said anyone who had trouble unsubscribing should contact the organisation via the info@neighbourly.co.nz email address.
Users could also close their Neighbourly account by going to the platform’s Contact Us page.
“There is an option in our dropdown menu to close your Neighbourly profile,” she said.
“If any members are having trouble unsubscribing we do invite them to let us know.”
Ms Moore said the company was “constantly striving to ensure members have a great experience with Neighbourly and do appreciate member feedback in helping us improve processes across our site”.
Neighbourly origin
NEIGHBOURLY operations director Sarah Moore says the founding goal for the social media platform was to create a positive online community through building trust and connectedness between neighbours, “alongside combatting social isolation and the disconnectedness many New Zealanders feel in their communities today”.
“Our neighbours are the people who are likely to be a first point of contact should an emergency occur, whether that’s a natural disaster, a missing family member or a family pet gone walkabout,” she said.
Because of the social media platform’s connection to physical reality, it was important to verify that a user lived where they said they did, as opposed to somewhere else in the world.
“A big part of achieving this objective is to ensure members know who lives next door or down the road from them, so sharing a little authentic information is one of the site’s base requirements,” Ms Moore said.
“The information gathered is similar to what can be found in the White Pages or Companies Directory.”
Ms Moore said all Neighbourly members used their real name and their home address.
“However, it is possible for members to hide their street number if they wish to,” she said.
Address details were only visible to fully-verified members in the same suburb.
The sharing of this authentic information helps create positive, open discussions in neighbourhoods across New Zealand between our 635,000 members,” Ms Moore said.