It seems the only people sending text messages these days are banks and the TV license department. With WhatsApp completely dominating SA, it seems the digital messaging darling does have its limitations.

Following a recent funding round, OurHood – the private digital home for neighbourhoods in South Africa – is about to unveil a whole set of new features, including some that capitalise on those WhatsApp weaknesses.

Hilton Conway, a neighbour using OurHood in Camps Bay says, “The problem we were finding with WhatsApp is it’s invasive and people are terrified of sharing their cellphone numbers. We started a group to discuss crime, but after a month we had neighbours discussing everything from lost parrots to running clubs. In the end you turn off all notifications or leave the group entirely.”

Just like WhatsApp, OurHood’s new Groups section – launching in coming weeks – will allow groups of users to speak to each other via a real-time, instant-push chat screen. These groups can either be Private Groups or Open Groups – ranging from running clubs and street captain patrols, to mums and tots groups and supper clubs.

Says OurHood’s Head of Product, Luca Stefanutti, “a lot of communities are exasperated with the inefficiencies of WhatsApp when it comes to neighbourhood communications. With OurHood they are able to choose which notifications they want to receive, they don’t have to give away their phone number, and there is no limit to the amount of people who can join. What’s more, all users are verified, so users know they’re speaking to their real neighbours. There are no trolls and no spam.”

And whilst the protection of knowing that there are no trolls on the platform (all neighbour addresses are verified), not all users want to give away their cellphone number, which is a requirement of WhatsApp.

As it stands, OurHood provides a digital notice board for users to post to their real neighbours. This could be anything from a crime to issue or general neighbourhood question, to nanny sharing requests and lost pet notices. But the highly anticipated ‘groups’ development is about to be rolled out.

The upcoming OurHood groups feature will also allow users in Private Groups to hide the group, so that it doesn’t show up in the list of available hoods for people to join. This is a particularly fun feature, as it means that tight-knit neighbours – say groupings of two to three homes, can enjoy their usual conversations in private.

Signup for OurHood or download the app at www.ourhood.co.za