I previously talked about a couple of flaws with Neighbours United; namely, not being able to see your neighbours, and the fact that membership hadn’t reached a high enough level to make it interesting. Well, the site managers have sent out a message through their Facebook group asking current members to invite all their friends to join the website.

This could be a great way to spread the word about the site – although it relies on people having a Facebook account and I imagine the majority of Neighbours United’s demographic don’t. I think Harrogate’s top of the list when it comes to “older” people joining Facebook however – maybe because of the number of internet entrepreneurs who live here (really, there are loads!).

I’d love to help out but to be honest I know about ten people in Harrogate. I’ve only lived here six months and my social life still revolves around Leeds and the tiny little village where I grew up!

My company 9xb recently launched Neighbours United, a local social networking site for the Harrogate area. The idea is you register your address and can see who lives in your street. You can send them messages or write on the message boards for all of Harrogate to see.

It’s a great idea – message boards are categorised by area and subject so you can start a conversation about the best restaurants, or the worst builders. There’s only one flaw that I can see, and that’s in the privacy settings.

Unless you go to the message boards, you can only see neighbours on your street. If none of your neighbours have joined it’s a very lonely place! I understand the need for privacy, but the point of the website is to bring a community together – more access to that community would make Neighbours United not only more interesting but more effective too.