BlockPooling, a social network for communities in Singapore, was set up in 2013 with a grant from the government to enable neighbours to share belongings and offer or ask for services.

The platform, which has the twin goals of strengthening communities in Singapore and making more efficient use of resources, does this through a number of unique features. For example, the 'lend and borrow' function uses postcodes to help people find others in their neighbourhood who have items they are willing to share or have a thing they need to borrow.

So far people have offered to lend more than 4,000 items on BlockPooling. The same functionality also lets people connect with others in their block, to seek out advice, invite them to events (users are encouraged to host events for neighbours) or inform them about activities such as building work that might inconvenience them.