4.1 Million Views… So Why Did I Stop Contributing? 🤔

Connections & celebrations
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Hi Local Guides! :waving_hand:

I’m a Level 7 Local Guide, and my contributions have received more than 4.1 million views on Google Maps.

For a long time, I was very active. Whenever I visited a restaurant, café, hotel, tourist attraction, or interesting place, I would take photos, upload videos, and write reviews. I genuinely enjoyed helping other people discover places and make better decisions.

But eventually, I became much less active.

Why?

Honestly, I started feeling that there wasn’t much incentive to keep contributing after reaching a certain level.

So I started wondering: What could make experienced Local Guides want to keep contributing for years?

Here are two ideas I’d love to see:

:wrapped_gift: 1. Physical rewards

Small gifts for highly active Local Guides — a T-shirt, travel accessory, badge, notebook, etc.

It doesn’t have to be expensive. Sometimes simply receiving something from Google that says “We appreciate your contribution” would be enough.

And I really hope these rewards could be available globally, including countries like Iran.

:globe_showing_europe_africa: 2. Local Guide Credits / Perks

Imagine if active Local Guides could occasionally receive small perks at participating businesses around the world:

:hot_beverage: A free coffee or drink

:fork_and_knife_with_plate: A small restaurant credit

:hotel: A hotel discount

:admission_tickets: A discount at a tourist attraction

Even a small benefit could make contributing feel more rewarding.

And importantly, these rewards wouldn’t have to depend on positive reviews. They could be based on things like contribution quality, consistency, usefulness, and reach.

I’m not asking Google to pay me for reviews.

I’m saying that 4.1 million views later, I’d love to have a reason to start contributing regularly again. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

I’m curious — what would motivate you to contribute more to Google Maps?

And Google, if you’re reading this: maybe it’s time to give your most dedicated Local Guides a little more love. :heart:

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Welcome to Connect, @Faezeh73
This is one of the most debated topic, and I think we need to start it from a totally different point of view.
You said

This is important, isn’t it. My question for you is: Are you also a user of Google Maps?
Do you find the contents posted by others helpful for you to make better decision?

Personally I am using Google Maps almost every day. To drive, to discover places, to make better decision about where to go. And I am very happy to have all this for free. So, despite my 1.56 Million Points and near 200 Million views I’m still contributing almost every day.
But if you have this question in your mind

and you are not able to find a motivation, well, I think it’s time to take a break. We are all volunteers, no one is forcing us to contribute.
But personally I would not think that I am contributing because I am rewarded. It would be like saying I don’t value the platform I’m contributing to. And if it has no value, why should I contribute? For a discount on the bus? How could my contributions be genuine?

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Hi @Faezeh73 !

I totally understand the situation you’re facing now; it’s happened to so many Local Guides since the program’s inception!

Years ago, I wrote a post here on Connect, “Local Guide makes me rich” (unfortunately, it was lost in the transition to the new Connect platform).

The gist of the post was that true wealth (or, let’s call it reward) comes from helping other people you don’t know make better choices on Maps, and from the opportunity to meet other Local Guides in person, both here on Connect and by participating in various meetups. This is the greatest value for Local Guides: sharing altruistically, without expecting anything in return.
Read carefully and reflect on what @ErmesT advised you: if you’re no longer motivated, take a break or use the opportunity to slow down a bit and focus on the quality of each individual contribution (photos and reviews)!

I hope you make the best of this situation.

Hi,
David

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Hi David,

Thank you for sharing this perspective. I actually agree with you that helping people make better decisions is one of the most rewarding parts of being a Local Guide. :blush:

And I don’t expect to be paid for every review or photo I contribute.

What I was trying to point out is a little different: recognition and small rewards could help maintain the motivation of long-term contributors.

For example, after reaching Level 7 and 4.1 million views, there isn’t really a new milestone that makes me feel “Google noticed my contribution.”

Even something small — a physical Local Guides gift, a badge, or an occasional travel/restaurant perk — could simply make contributors feel appreciated.

I also agree that taking a break and focusing on quality is better than contributing just for points. But I think both things can exist together: contributing altruistically while still feeling recognized by the platform.

That’s really what I was hoping to discuss with this post: what could make experienced Local Guides want to stay active for many more years?

Thanks again for your thoughtful reply!

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Thank you, ErmesT. This is actually a very interesting way to look at it.

And yes, I am also a Google Maps user. I use it when I travel, choose restaurants, find places, read reviews and look at photos from other Local Guides. I genuinely value the platform, and that is actually one of the reasons I contributed so much in the first place.

So I completely agree that the main motivation should be helping other people and making Google Maps better. I also don’t think contributions should become a “pay-per-review” system.

Maybe I didn’t express my point clearly enough.

What I’m thinking about is recognition, rather than payment.

For example, if someone has been contributing for years, has reached Level 7, and their content has been viewed millions of times, wouldn’t it be nice if Google occasionally said: “We noticed your contribution and appreciate it”?

That could be a small physical gift, a special badge, an invitation to an event, or even an occasional perk. It wouldn’t need to be connected to individual reviews, and certainly not to whether a review is positive or negative.

I also understand your point that if someone contributes only because of a discount, the motivation could become less genuine. But I wonder if the two motivations can coexist: intrinsic motivation to help others + recognition from the platform for long-term contribution.

And actually, your numbers make my point even more interesting — 1.56 million points and almost 200 million views is an incredible contribution. :blush::ok_hand:t2:

I’d be curious to know: after so many years of contributing, what would make you feel genuinely appreciated by Google, without turning Local Guides into a paid program?

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Maybe, @Faezeh73

But let me mention two other aspects you might not yet have considered.

Google is getting contributions in numbers that are unbelievable. So the notion that they need to reward the volunteers to make more contributions might not be correct.

Secondly, one of the biggest problems on Maps are users motivated to mess with the data by making fake contributions incorrectly thinking reaching a high LG level will get them more editing power. Or they are actually getting paid to create false positive reviews for business owners, or other business owners are willing to pay for fake negative reviews to be posted on their competitors’ Maps listings.

There is a whole industry based on creating fake content. Imaging what would happen with more incentives as you suggested. My guess is that the problem with fake contributions will increase.

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Thank you, Morten. I really appreciate you sharing these points. I hadn’t considered the issue of fake contributions and the potential impact of stronger incentives from that perspective.

I completely agree with your concerns, and I’m glad you brought them up. It gave me a different perspective on the topic.

Thanks again for taking the time to explain this! :blush:

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This is an often raised question, and there’s no one good answer. How long have you been a Local Guide. At Level 7 and 4 million views, you’ve only just begun. I continued for 10 years and reached Level 10 about 6 months ago with over 40 million views. I’ve never received nor expected to receive any physical incentive. I remember the adrenaline rush when I got to the end of Level 7 and became a Level 8 guide. That small change in status is reward enough. Give it another try, and you’ll soon feel the excitement coursing through your veins again.

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Well, answering this question can be very easy or very difficult. I don’t care much about points and badges. I’m much more interested in having a constantly updated and completely free exploration and navigation tool. Before Google Maps, I spent €100 a year for a simple navigation tool, updated twice a year. Maps is a tool updated by users, and I’m very proud to contribute and be part of this group.
When you, to easily reach a place, take one or more roads added by me or other Local Guides, you’ll be happy, and maybe you’ll say, “Finally, Google updated the map,” but it won’t occur to you to thank Marco, Sarath, Lucas, Nguyen, or me, and yet the five of us alone have added almost half a million roads.
Of course, we’ve been rewarded several times, with an invitation to events hosted by Google. That kind of reward is not a free vacation, is first of all an opportunity for Google to talk with the most active contributors.
Every year I’ve meet amazing Local Guides, with incredible contributions. Some was very well known, others were there for the very first time. They had 2 things in Common:

  • All were great
  • No one of them was expecting a reward
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في اعتقادي ان المعلومة تشترى بثمن.
نحن نحصل على المعلومات من خرائط قوقل دون ان ندفع وبالتالي نضع المعلومة على خرائط قوقل بدون مقابل. وبالتالي الجميع كسبان انه بيحصل المعلومة ويتشاركوا الناس فيها بدون مقابل.
هذه نعمة كبيرة

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