Big Claims, Small Samples: Questions About Nextdoor’s ISP Switching Study

Nextdoor recently shared a stat-heavy article claiming that 42% of neighbors plan to change their home internet plan in the next six months, based on a survey of 850 U.S. adults. On the surface, that sounds like valuable insight for advertisers and ISPs.

But if we pause for just a moment, the methodology raises some serious questions.

Nextdoor regularly highlights that it has 100M+ verified neighbors across 345,000+ neighborhoods. If that’s the scale and trust Nextdoor is asking advertisers and investors to believe in, then a sample size of 850 adults feels… thin.

Here’s what doesn’t add up for me:

• Why 850 adults when the platform claims 100M+ verified users?

• Who selected the sample, and from which neighborhoods?

• What’s the margin of error on this data?

• Were respondents evenly distributed across regions, income levels, and urban vs. rural areas?

• If “1 in 3 users rely on Nextdoor” (per Nextdoor’s own site), why wasn’t the sample meaningfully larger or more transparent?

• Can this sample truly predict ISP-switching behavior at the national or neighborhood scale?

To be clear: I’m not disputing that people care about reliability and value or that many households are open to switching providers. That’s intuitive.

What I am questioning is whether this study, as presented, is robust enough to support the confidence Nextdoor is asking advertisers to place in it.

When research is used to sell reach, influence buying decisions, or justify ad spend, methodology matters as much as the headline. Without clarity on sampling, error rates, and demographic spread, the data risks being more marketing than measurement.

If Nextdoor wants to lead with scale, it also needs to lead with rigor.

Big numbers invite big questions.

#Nextdoor #DataTransparency #MarketResearch #AdvertisingMetrics #PlatformGovernance #DigitalTrust #ResearchMethodology #AdTech #ConsumerInsights