A billion-dollar tech unicorn wants to disrupt Facebook's stranglehold on community-based social networking in Australia.
While Facebook can boast about 17 million monthly users, neighbourhood network Nextdoor says its location verification system will make sure only true locals can engage in community discussions and events.
The platform on Tuesday launched in Australia - the eighth country where it now has a presence but the company's first foray into the Asia Pacific.
The expansion comes after the firm's value bolted past $1.5 billion - despite small revenue streams in its seven-year existence.
Nextdoor co-founder and chief executive Nirav Tolia says the free-to-use product isn't about selfies, photo sharing or status updates but instead making real-world communities better through technology.
Default groups include Crime and Safety, Lost and Found and a marketplace while users can create their own places for sports teams, schools and other networks.
"Australians do care about building stronger and safer local communities," Mr Tolia told AAP.
"They want this notion of community but at the same time, only 25 per cent of Aussies claim to have a good relationship with their neighbours, according to the research we've done."
Key to Nextdoor's success is making sure users who say they're next door aren't interstate trolls or Russian bots.
Mr Tolia said the company verifies users in two ways - either by mailing a confirmation code to their address or establishing their location during a short phone call.
Mailing verification codes is a policy Facebook only introduced to certain United States advertisers in April.
"We feel very confident in our ability to verify and it's really what we built the entire company around," Mr Tolia said.
"Verification is a game-changer in a world of fake news and lots of online abuse."
Nextdoor says it has 210,000 neighbourhoods across the world.
