Atlanta's Home Elephant tries to connect neighbors

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By David Markiewicz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Thanks to social media such as Facebook, staying in touch with faraway friends and family may be easier than ever. For many people, though, feeling connected to those a lot closer to home -- your neighbors -- is a problem.

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Atlanta social media company Home Elephant has spread to neighborhoods across Atlanta and the U.S. with users sending out alerts and other messages to neighborrs on smart phones.

Staff Atlanta social media company Home Elephant has spread to neighborhoods across Atlanta and the U.S. with users sending out alerts and other messages to neighborrs on smart phones.

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Now, a startup Atlanta company, Home Elephant, is trying to bring the folks next door together over shared interests and concerns.

Home Elephant's smartphone app can help connect a neighborhood, with residents providing alerts about a prowler, news regarding an upcoming block party, or information about baby-sitter sharing opportunities. Neighbors also can buy and sell goods through a private classifieds section, or simply chat.

People who choose to participate must register at the Home Elephant site. Only registered users have access to information about who lives in the neighborhood.

The app is iPad- and iPhone-friendly, with an Android release coming soon. The service also is available on the Web and on Facebook.

Founders Chandler Powell, 28, Jeff Jahn, 26, and Matthew Fromm, 31, the owners of Trunoo, an Atlanta software company, and Bonneau Ansley III, 35, a real estate broker, said the service isn't generating any revenue yet. They are seeking partners to provide funds and expertise.

They're hopeful because more than 5,000 neighborhoods in 45 countries have signed up for the free service since it launched with email sign-up in April. The number of users per neighborhood ranges from several to hundreds, they said.

Molly Knox, who lives in Atlanta's Haynes Manor neighborhood, has used Home Elephant for six months.

"It is a much easier tool than using a neighborhoodwide email blast," said Knox. "This is really the only app I have come across that serves this particular purpose."

Home Elephant has attracted nationwide media coverage and been called "the neighborhood watch of the future." The company bills itself as "social media with a purpose."

Powell got the idea one night last year when he was out of town on business and his wife called to tell him she was being followed by a stranger as she walked home. She called police, and nothing bad happened, but Powell wanted to email his neighbors to warn them about the man.

"But I had only three addresses," he said. "That was the spark."

The unusual name, Home Elephant, he said, came about when brainstorming didn't yield anything they fancied. "It was accidental," he said, "and we liked it."