Bring your town or neighborhood together online without the noise or toxicity of big social media platforms

At New_ Public, we're creating a new social product and providing support to help you start a healthy online space for your local area.

Designed to make it easy for your local community to share...

  • Town News

  • Events

  • Advice & Recommendations

  • Emergency Updates

  • Mutual Aid

  • Asks & Offers

  • Celebrations

  • Announcements

  • Volunteer Opportunities

  • ...and more

Read more about how great online spaces can strengthen local communities: Your town's online group matters more than you think.

We're taking a different approach

Email listservs and chat apps like WhatsApp are great for small groups, but get overwhelming with more than ~50 people.

Nextdoor and Facebook amplify controversy and are full of spammers, scammers, bickering, and self-promotion.

General purpose forum tools work well for online interest groups but lack important features for local communities.

We’re designing something to improve information sharing in rural and suburban towns and city neighborhoods — areas with ~3,000-30,000 people.

Imagine an online space that combines the best of a small-town newspaper with the best of a well-run local Facebook Group

A place where...

  • public values are prioritized over profit

  • local stewards are supported, empowered, and compensated

  • each community has its own rules, norms, and vibes

  • tech helps facilitate but doesn't replace human connection

  • everyone feels safe and welcome

Want to explore this with us in your local area?

We're looking to partner with people in a small number of local communities to launch initial pilots this summer. Learn more about our Launchpad program.

If you live in the United States, care deeply about your local community, and consider yourself creative and entrepreneurial, leave your information below and we'll setup some time to chat.

New_ Public is a non-partisan non-profit organization that's reimagining social media. We're a team of community organizers, researchers, designers, and engineers, working together to create healthy digitial public spaces that connect people and strengthen communities. You can learn more about our work and other projects here.