Branson encourages residents to sign up for private social network

The city of Branson is encouraging residents to sign up for private social network Nextdoor in an attempt to get people talking and building stronger neighborhoods.

On Nextdoor.com, the free service enables citywide and neighbor-to-neighbor communications for seeking advice, answers to questions and social networking.

"Initially, we helped set up the boundaries and neighborhoods we've been working with," Branson Director of Economic Development Garrett Anderson said, noting the service was free for the city government. "It's really the neighbors who will have control over the content. The city can suggest topics and we can post on there, but ultimately it's not a city program, so we don't have any sort of oversight."

For its part, the city can post news, services, programs, public events and emergency notifications to Nextdoor as a complement to other services it offers via phone and city alarms and notices.

Nextdoor also is available for Springfield neighborhoods either by creating an account at Nextdoor.com or linking a Facebook account.