What that? Whatsapp! Changing your community one group at a time.
It was January 2014 and I moved into a block of flats in North London, Kentish Town — it’s a re-development that has been converted 9 years earlier from an old school. As I settled in I was struck at how quiet the building was and despite there being 25 flats in total you rarely saw each other.
I thought of hosting a drinks or something to introduce myself and get to know the neighbours but as so often happens, days turn into weeks and weeks into months and suddenly Christmas rolled around so I decided to invite everyone to the local pub for Christmas drinks around 10 of the flats showed up and it was a really good evening with many people saying they hadn’t met anyone else before now.
Something then sparked in me to suggest to have a WhatsApp group for everyone who lives in the block as a way we can help each other — I spend one early evening knocking on everyone’s door and asking if people would like to join — starting with my flat mate. With each knock saying everyone else had signed up, which of course they had and within a week or so, as people were out I had to go back a couple of times we had everyone on. That’s now over 2 ½ years ago. Since we started it people have helped each other for a whole host of things here’s my top 11 favourites:
- Loaning of a freezer as someone’s freezer broke.
- Helping jump start a car due to a dead battery.
- How to get rid of moths.
- During a power cut there was one phone call to the power company and everyone knew what was happening which saved 25 people calling.
- Borrowing of carpark spaces.
- Complaining when there was too much noise due to a party and cupcakes being left for everyone the following day.
- Finding out whether it was bees or wasps that needed to be removed.
- A Halloween drinks flat crawl
- Film screenings and various ticket exchanges.
- Computer help and things needed to be printed.
- A mother in law staying being hosted in someone’s flat after the arrival of a new baby.
As people move out there is a handover process to the new owners or tenants to make sure they are included. The community has been transformed and you get a sense that people who before were anonymous have other people who look out and care for them.
This was one of the things that is very much part of the Causr story and why I felt it was important to create the platform. Imagine being able to land anywhere in the world and have the same feeling of community and connectivity that we’ve created with a simple WhatsApp group.
Context is key as we’re more often out of the house away from where we live by joining different groups on Causr we provide users the context to enable them to break the ice and start connecting.
Why not start your own WhatsApp group for your community and share how it goes below. Likewise, if you’ve got a similar story relating to the benefits of a connected community, we’d love to hear from you!
Causr is a location-based app that introduces its users to others within the local area. It makes finding nearby professionals with similar jobs, interests and ambitions easy. Scroll through a network of users, see who’s free, meet for coffee, share business advice or simply connect. Causr plans those chances encounters, and makes missed opportunities a thing of the past.
Download the App to see who’s nearby and start connecting today. Now available on the Apple App Store. Pre-register for our Android release here.
