Picket Fence is new social network in Menlo Park for older adults
Sure, Menlo Park is headquarters to the largest social network company in the world, but now there’s also a new, smaller one with the goal of building face-to-face relationships among older adults.
Picket Fence was started by Noopur Pandey, who lives in the Linfield Oaks neighborhood, and a colleage she had worked with at Yahoo!, Chung-Man Tam.
“Our initial research was done via my neighborhood NextDoor,” explained Noopur. “Our thinking was that once your kids leave schools, you lose your school network, and once you leave work, you lose your work network.
“What we found out from the older adults we contacted is that they wanted to meet people in their age group.”
Added Chung: “They’re free during the day and want to go on walks or maybe catch a movie or tour Stanford art. We also found that people wanted to get together over lunch or dinner at a restaurant.
“And we’ve been amazed at how people are opening up their homes to host events. They are so welcoming.”
In addition to Menlo Park, the Picket Fence social network is available in Palo Alto, Redwood City, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos/Los Altos Hills, Woodside, San Carlos, Belmont, San Mateo, Atherton, Portola Valley, Stanford, Saratoga, Campbell, Los Gatos, Cupertino and Santa Clara.
As the network expands geographically, the co-founders want to start linking people for educational opportunities and provide useful articles on the Picket Fence website.
“It’s really surprised us that people who live close by don’t necessarily know each other and are so happy to discover people with similar interests who live close by,” said Noopur.
Photo by Gina Hart
N hosay September 30, 2016 at 12:58 am
Noopur and Chung created a great idea in Picket Fence. It fills a much needed void to provide an expanded social community for adults 50 plus. I have really enjoyed the people and the activities.
A. Lee October 08, 2016 at 9:27 pm
Picket Fence wanted a copy of my Utility Bill to join. That did not seem reasonable. Is this a data-collection ruse?
Noopur Pandey October 17, 2016 at 9:10 am
Hi A. Lee – Thanks for joining the Picket Fence community! We wanted to provide a service that took the privacy and trust of our members seriously. A big part of building that trust is the knowledge that folks you meet on Picket Fence are your real and actual neighbors and hence the request for a picture of your utility bill that shows your address.
Best,
Noopur
Carolyn Miller October 14, 2016 at 3:16 pm
Sounds like a great idea to me.
Noopur Pandey October 17, 2016 at 9:11 am
Hi Carolyn!
Thanks for the great feedback and would love for you to join us and be part of the community.
Best,
Noopur
Aura Sullivan December 21, 2016 at 11:57 pm
I am interested in Picket Fence. I am in San Francisco, and there are a number of people on Noe Valley Next Door who have expressed an interest in Picket Fence or something just like it. Great work!!!
Noopur Pandey December 22, 2016 at 9:32 pm
Hi Aura!
Thanks for the interest. Would love to talk with you more. Please email us at founders@joinpicketfence.com
Thanks !
Lenore Cymes October 20, 2017 at 6:01 pm
I don’t know if this is where I put my question – but —- I think there were several book clubs started on Picket Fence and would welcome information about time/dates of the meeting if there are openings.
TXS
Lenore
shelly miller August 16, 2018 at 12:38 pm
I found you on Facebook asking if this was still active, you responded but still trying to figure out how to get involved. Please respond, thank you.