Big Buzz And Rise Of Fear-based Social Networking Apps Like Nextdoor, Citizen And Now Amazon’s Neighbors

Amit Agrawal
5 min readNov 4, 2019

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The increasing crime rate has brought an increment in the fear-based social networking apps. Apps like Nextdoor, Amazon’s Neighbour and Citizen are the most popular applications and are the most downloaded apps in the USA.

These applications allow people to share information related to crime, people discuss it and view the violation acts in real-time. Such apps are easily found on Google Play Store for Android devices and the App store in IOS devices.

Let’s talk about these apps in detail and learn about their features:-

Nextdoor

The Nextdoor app allows its users to find restaurants near to them; they can buy used furniture in a way it is the greatest network allowing you to connect with your neighboring places and people.

If you happen to find a stolen car or bike then you can report regarding the same through the medium of this app. The application allows finding last-minute help like babysitters, get-togethers happening around your neighborhood. A lot of people share such information with the help of this private network.

Citizen

Primarily this application was called a vigilante. This application provides information related to the crimes that occur in their nearby surroundings, this way people get better control over crime management because they stay aware of things that are likely to happen. They alert the people of the crimes. The application users are able to share the live footage of the crime happening around them.

The users can chat regarding the same and can create a private network to plan how to fight against the criminal acts on their own. Such applications allow you to stay connected with your friends and relatives during the hours of crime development. You can keep track of the situations in your small private circle.

Neighbors by Amazon

The ring brand by Amazon runs an application called neighbors. The app works similar to Citizen. It makes people aware of the crime taking place in their area. The users of this app can post photos and videos of the suspicious incidents they witness around their place.

The drawback of this application is that it is accessible to everyone and that can lead to a dispersal of misleading video clips and photographs as well. It is not essential that every activity that is regarded to be or observed as an act of violence as actually the same. The people projected in the clips would definitely come under the police surveillance irrespective of their innocence status. The security concerns that arise out of these apps can be resolved using social media app development solutions.

Statistics

Talking about the statistics, the most downloaded applications in the USA, Nextdoor was the 9th most downloaded lifestyle application by the end of April month this year. The category of Nextdoor was alternated from social to lifestyle. Neighbors by Amazon’s Ring is at 36th position. It comes under the social app category.

The news app, called Citizen is the 7th most downloaded application. All these rankings are for the applications being downloaded on IOS. You can also plan to build such successful applications to enhance the security systems of the country with an iPhone app Development Company.

Apps that propagate a sense of violence and fear

Such applications have created a sense of terror and fear in an aggravated amount. The citizens of the country have started imagining their lives are surrounded by terror most of the time.

But, according to The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the criminal rate in the USA has declined steeply in more than the past two decades. If you wish to bring a trusted application in the market, then get the help of such mobile app development services where they can build an application that works for the wellbeing of the country’s citizens.

The smartphones and smart devices have brought an increase in the unjustified fear among people related to the crime rate in their surroundings. The smart devices allow users of applications like Citizen, Nextdoor and Amazon Rings Neighbor to use the technology in every nook and corner of America.

This leads to a rapid spread of suspicious information and activities. Despite a decline in the crime rate in the country, the citizens have developed a thought that the crime rate is at an alarming point. This sense of insecurity is present in every corner of the country because the application media allows the users to share the information widely.

Black American’s seen as Criminals

However, the social media web portal development should restrict such information dispersal without verification of the estimated crime. According to a university scholar, apps like these further promote the racism and skin color stereotypes in America. People turn bias when they seek such information in the form of video clips and photographs. Visuals have a long-lasting impact on an individual’s mind and they act as a direct clue to the reported incident. This feeds to the ideology that the crime story is based on a black citizen rather than a White American.

Somewhere, such applications have turned out to be the promoters of communalism which is a very serious issue of all times in America. Such applications are doing more injustice in place of providing better help to police surveillance or neighborhoods.

Few Final Thoughts

The marginalized communities and homeless people become victims of this definitive crime guide. These applications create a big buzz by exemplifying the people belonging to the black race as criminals in the majority of times. You as an app developer or builder should look forward to the eradication of such tactics by finding the right social media app development solutions.

The Citizen app which comes under the news category of apps contains an abundance of comments citing criminal speculations that are emphasizing on the people as per their color. You should tie-up with an iPhone app Development Company which contains certain ideas that can fight back these unnecessary and evil factors.

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Amit Agrawal

Amit Agrawal Founder and COO at Cyber Infrastructure Inc which is an custom software development company.