The Trubia Valleys: when a rural collaborative network built with Helpbuttons starts to take root

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A simple, local community network, free from algorithms… but full of people beginning to connect and collaborate in real life.

In the mountains of Asturias, west of Oviedo, lie the Trubia Valleys: a rural region that includes municipalities such as Proaza, Quirós, Teverga, and Santo Adriano.

For the past few months, this area has been home to a community network created with Helpbuttons. It is not a massive network. It is not active all the time. But it is there: available, simple, and useful for anyone willing to use it.

This blog shares the story of that network and how small, real gestures are having a positive impact on everyday life for the people who live there: posts that solve problems, connections that add up, and people who, without large structures, are beginning to meet online in order to help one another offline.

👉 Want to create a network like this in your community? Start yours here.

What can you find — and offer — in a network like this?

If you take a look inside the network, the first thing that stands out is that there is no posturing here: this is real life. In the same week, you can find posts across many categories, from resources and heritage to needs and offers, specific questions, service listings, and even alerts.

Real examples of posts in the Trubia Valleys network

• In the Resources and Heritage section, the local council shared a reminder about the existence of the “Villanueva leisure and wellness area”, while a neighbor posted an update about maintenance on the “Camín a Parayas” route. These are the kinds of posts that help people discover public assets, highlight the work of local employment workshops, and make local heritage visible so it can be enjoyed and cared for.

In other cases, such as “Camino Traslavilla – L’Abadía”, the post is completed by comments and updates from other neighbors once the issue has been resolved.

• In Nature, someone uploads a photo of a mushroom and asks: “Is this fungus bad for the tree?” while another neighbor, also with a photo, provides a specific identification of another local species: “Amanita vittadini.” The goal is to share questions and build knowledge about the valleys’ flora and fauna.
• In the I Offer section, the local economy comes through clearly: “English services and English lessons,” “Gardening work,” “Construction/renovation,” and even more digital services such as “Optimization and creation of Airbnb ads.”
• In I Need, there are urgent and practical needs: “Clothing alterations,” “Looking for a second-hand brushcutter,” or housing searches such as “Looking for a house/barn with land in Proaza.”

In the case of the brushcutter post, another neighbor replied by recommending a specific place and explaining what kind of machinery they had. This is not just commenting for the sake of it: it is saving someone hours of searching.

And sometimes the network creates direct job connections: a local business posted “Waiter/Waitress wanted” and a neighbor replied in the comments saying they were available and shared their contact details. No middlemen.

• In Business / local establishment, local entrepreneurs appear too, such as “El Manantial” or a “Coworking and shared workspace.” Restaurants, shops, and other local businesses can use the platform as a contact point and a place to publish what they offer if they do not have a website.
• In Events, there are invitations to meet in public spaces across the Valley: “Basketball game,” “Xueves de Xuntanza.” These events change every week, as past events are automatically hidden so the list always stays up to date.
• In Alerts, there are notices to help take care of neighbors: “Speed in the villages” or warnings related to path maintenance.
• In History, there is shared memory: “Celebration in Plaza de l’Abadía in Proaza.”
• And much more, depending on the settings neighbors themselves want, since they can edit post types without coding.

The network is gradually publishing more and more useful local content. There is no spam. There are no commercial ads. Just key information that helps people cooperate.

👉 Create your own local network and start connecting people around you

➡︎ All of this without apps that sell your data, without algorithms deciding for you. Just an open network, coordinated by neighbors and tailored to the place itself.

A network designed for rural life, at its own pace

The Trubia Valleys are not a big city. Relationships move at a different rhythm here. There are no community managers, no incentives, no campaigns. Just people sharing what they can and finding small but meaningful solutions.

A collaborative network that changes with the seasons

If there is one thing you notice in this network, it is that what gets posted is tied to everyday life… and in the countryside, that life is seasonal.

In the warmer months, there is more movement around land, routes, and maintenance: Resources and Heritage posts such as “Camino Traslavilla – L’Abadía” or specific places like “Lavadero de Payón” and “Lavadero de Riflor.” These are the kinds of posts that appear because people are out walking, repairing, observing, and sharing.

In the Camino Traslavilla – L’Abadía post, there were also comments refining the exact location of the route, and later the most useful update possible arrived: “Cleaned by the council” and “Path clean!” The network does not just inform; it follows up.

Other users upload photos of species to ask whether they are beneficial for crops or to identify things they have not been able to recognize.

When winter arrives, the shift toward domestic needs becomes more visible: “Heating oil boiler specialist.” Alongside that, things that may seem small but actually support daily life: “Looking for a used brushcutter” or even “Old wood-burning stove.”

There is also another group of posts that says a lot about the current rural moment: housing and stays. You find posts like “Selling pasture land in Maravio” or even people introducing themselves through messages such as “Looking for a long-term rental house.” It is a sign of a living territory where people come and go.

What is beautiful about this network is not that it is perfect, or hyperactive. It is that it fits the place. It reflects real needs, in real time. And little by little, it helps the digital layer adapt to the real needs of the community.

👉 You can build something like this where you live.

A key reason: protecting your data and privacy outside the traditional social media circuit

For many rural communities, the challenge is not only how to organize. It is where to organize. On traditional social networks, community life gets mixed with noise, advertising, algorithms, and the feeling that the content does not really belong to you: today someone sees it, tomorrow it disappears, and later it is used to sell you something.

With Helpbuttons, the logic is different: your network, your data. There is no algorithm deciding what gets shown. There is no advertising. There is no model based on exploiting your information. Just a network that exists for one reason: so that local people can meet, ask, offer, and coordinate without getting trapped in the usual game.

Just a local, open network built to fit the territory.

How to replicate this network in other places (and create your own)

What is happening in Trubia could happen anywhere else: a parish in Galicia, a small district in Murcia, an outer neighborhood in Zaragoza, or a village in Andalusia. Helpbuttons makes it possible to create networks with their own identity, simple and practical, designed around what each community actually needs.

🔗 Want to see how it works? Explore the demo neighborhood network or get inspired by 10 types of networks you can create with Helpbuttons.

Would you like to create something like this where you live?

👉 Activate your network step by step
👉 10 examples of networks you can create
👉 Explore the Helpbuttons demo network
👉 Create your network now

Because it does not matter whether you are in a valley, a neighborhood, or on an island

What matters is having a shared purpose and the tools to organize around it. And that is exactly what helpbuttons offers.

A single, open, flexible tool for building community. Rural, urban, mixed, or whatever fits your reality. The Trubia network proves it.

You could be the next success story.