Zoom in: Carlson, who lives with her husband, toddler and cat, moved into a single-family home in Noe Valley last June.

• As self-described "burners" — fans of Burning Man — Carlson and her husband value community and the principle of "gifting without expectation."

What she did: Organized a neighborhood social hour.

• She knocked on neighbors' doors and handed out flyers, which was "very time-consuming and draining," she says.

The hard work paid off. At the first event, some people who lived in Noe Valley for 40 years finally met their neighbors, who were excited to plan future events. "For every bit of energy I've invested, I've received so much more from other people."

Since that first gathering, the network has steadily grown.

• Less than a year later, neighbors now share lemons from their trees ("the classic San Francisco favor"), babysit, and chat in a WhatsApp group that's 70-people strong.
• "My personal favorite thing is that organizing social hours now takes me about five minutes," because the group votes on times through WhatsApp. Their last social hour was last Sunday.

Here are a few things Carlson learned from her experience and a community-building group called the Neighborhood Accelerator Program:

When you knock on doors, practice an opening line like "I'm your neighbor, I live right there," because that disarms someone who might think you're selling something.

• Try not to be discouraged if people don't open the door.

Don't push the text group idea before people see the value in one.

• Asking, "Will you join this WhatsApp group full of strangers?" isn't as appealing as having a nice conversation with someone, and then asking, "Do you want to do this again?"

A front yard or public park is ideal for your first event. Hers was on a hill.

• "The advantage of the outdoor setup is that you capture some traffic walking by," she says.

Bottom line: Turning strangers into friends takes work — but it's worth it.