Neighbors Would Rather Talk Over the Fence.

• Position: SOCIAL MEDIA

In today's world, the old adage "good fences make good neighbors" may be more like "good Facebook privacy settings make good neighbors," two professors from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, have found.

Bonnie Johnson, associate professor of urban planning, and Germaine Halegoua, assistant professor of film and media studies, conducted a case study to see if social media could revive a struggling neighborhood association.

"Much of the research on social media and public engagement has been about happy, success stories, but the neighborhood we studied wasn't one of those glowing success stories," notes Johnson. "We found there is a mismatch between what Facebook offers and how people think neighbors should communicate."

The professors studied a Lawrence neighborhood with more than 500 homes that had a neighborhood association since the early 1970s. Over 10 years, the association's active members had dropped from more than 100 to less than 10. In hopes of rebuilding participation, the neighborhood association launched Facebook and Twitter accounts and an email Listserv, which they advertised throughout the neighborhood. The results yielded five Facebook likes, three Twitter followers, and two new email addresses.

To find out why there was little interest in joining a neighborhood social network, the researchers sent out surveys to more than 500 homes. Respondents indicated they were not comfortable with neighbors seeing details of their private life on Facebook. They likewise feared social network sites would exclude...