YourStreet Connects You To Your Neighbors

Several social networking sites claim to connect you with your neighbors, but the biggest hurdle to doing that is coming up with a compelling reason to get your neighbors to sign up for a service that just lets them communicate with one another. YourStreet has the answer

The service isn't quite like other social networking services, but it does bring neighbors together over a common interest: the welfare of their community. Once you give YourStreet your location, it pulls down news and information about your neighborhood, and allows all of your neighbors to sign up, comment, and start conversations about different places in the community, news stories about your town, and more.








The service is location-aware, so when you visit the site, it immediately takes you to the nearest community. Then it populates a Google map with news stories from local news sources, like local newspapers, radio stations, and blogs. All of the news and information that YourStreet collects serves as the groundwork for the service. After all of the information is populated, the users take over.



Accounts at YourStreet are free, and when you sign up, if you give the service your address or some general location information, it will add you to the community map. Once you're signed up, you can begin "conversations" about places in your area and check the map for other neighbors who have signed up for the service and may live near you. YourStreet populates just about any area in the country with news, but I only found neighbors in certain US cities, like New York City and Los Angeles.



The conversations are the real strength of the service. Once you're signed up, you can choose a restaurant, bar, museum, even another neighbor, and start a conversation about it right on the map. Type in the address of the location you'd like to discuss,YourStreet will add it to the map. When users and other visitors click on the conversation, they see the comment that started the conversation. They can click again to see the whole conversation, including any replies by other YourStreet members.



YourStreet accepts local blogs and sites, so if you write a blog that's specific to your region, you can have YourStreet index the articles you post. If you just feel like you have a stake in your community or want to connect with other people in your area, pick a news item to discuss and start a conversation about it. Whether you're upset that the city government is closing a local hospital or curious where the best Italian restaurant in your area is, YourStreet can help.