I keep getting emails to become a local guide. Ive never heard of this before. What exactly is it used for?
Im getting mixed answers on google…
Thanks.
M.
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I’m still trying to figure this out myself. I don’t see any posts that are local to my area.
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So. Its not just me. Lol
Phew!
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@Maggzzz I hope you eventually get a more authoritative user/response than me, but since no one has jumped in yet, I’ll share what I perceive it to be about 
I compulsively take surveys - do you ever go to McDonald’s? (I pray that you don’t) On the receipt they give you, there is a request to take a survey about your experience. Having worked in Marketing* nearly my entire career (aside from a stint as a journalist for The Houston Chronicle), I know how desperately businesses want to know how things are going on the ground. That’s why McD offers two-for-one or half-off deals if you fill out the survey, which usually doesn’t take more than a few minutes.
It’s like voting (except it’s representative democracy, with no electoral college [American quirk] to fudge and obfuscate the feedback). I want a better McD’s experience, so I fill out the surveys and praise them when they do well and fairly, kindly and objectively criticize them when it doesn’t.
I presume that information is getting collected, aggregated, analyzed and used to make decisions at the corporate level, and I think ultimately, that will benefit not just me (a moderately-ashamed, occasional McD patron), but also the hundreds of thousands of other patrons who are, perhaps, too busy or apathetic to bother with the survey.
Local Guides (shameless plug - go check out my contributions, if you like! No hard feelings if you don’t) is similar, to my mind. I photograph all kinds of stuff, from gross, awful, offensive products (like ‘Leroy the Love Doll’ and the ‘Tranny Love Doll’ at an awful, local adult shop) to public transit centers, local landmarks of cultural or historical significance (like Pride Wall HTX or Wortham Park), and my personal, favorite niche is businesses that operate on the fringe, like smoke shops, sex shops, psychics/mediums, tattoo parlors, etc.
I also care deeply about my reviews (I’m a writer, by nature, and a bit of a narcissist, which is redundant - we writers all are), and - from my perspective - they help to highlight facets of locations, businesses, etc. that I care about. Campbell Medical Clinic is a pain management center that eschews prescription drugs and invasive surgery, and I think that’s awesome, especially since I’ve lost family members (and will likely lose more) to opiate overdose.
A Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Houston features a prominently-displayed wall of corporate sponsors, which I felt was in poor taste, and my review reflects that. I have a low opinion of the Houston Galleria (which I believe to be an ostentatious exhibition of some of our worst capitalist impulses, a gaudy monument to the Invisible Hand that is literally surrounded on all sides by moderate-to-extreme-poverty), and my review reflects that. The Montrose Center is Houston’s best and most effective advocate for LGBT individuals and the gay community, and while things are better than they were, say, in the 80s, they’re not good, certainly not good enough. TMC does incredible work for underserved, maligned people, and I’m proud to give them five stars and boost their prominence/visibility even just a little; maybe my one 5-star review is the difference between a homeless, gay teen seeing their listing then stopping by and getting support versus continuing to struggle alone.
So without losing my objectivity or having an axe to grind, I view My Contributions as a form of social advocacy. I have the autonomy to pick and choose what places and businesses I highlight, what facets (positive or negative) of those locations I report on/underscore, etc.
Google (and especially Maps/Local Guides/My Business) is a soberingly powerful tool, and - right or wrong - I want to be one of the ones wielding that tool, not a passive observer as others shape my world. I also obviously do things like volunteer and donate to organizations and other IRL advocacy, but my LGing is an extension of my determination to be an active participant in the shaping of my world, which is not just MY world, but one I share with so many other individuals and communities.
The Google One perk is pretty sweet, but I think LGs get that at Lvl 3? Maybe 4? Obviously, if I were in this for perks, I’d have stopped ages ago. I could be naive or idealistic, but I experience a sense of pride and agency with every contribution I make to Google Maps, and enjoy the sense of being part of a community of users who are trying to catalogue and qualify the world around us.
I’m currently a Lvl 8, and even though I’m contributing at roughly the same rate, the EXP bar across the top (oh come on, that’s basically what it is) is barely crawling these days. If I were relying on the manufactured, gamified ‘satisfaction’ of leveling up, I would probably also have given up or slowed down long before now. For me, that’s not what it’s about. For me, it’s about having an impact on the world, and more specifically my city, using one of the - if not THE - most powerful tools in human history.
I don’t know if that answers your question, but that’s how it works for me, or how I make it work. Good question! I hope you find something about the platform that similarly motivates you. Happy LocalGuide-ing!
Please feel under no compulsion to visit or patronize my business; it just helps to illustrate what I am about and why I am so dogged about LGing
*Here’s a link to the Facebook Page for my company (search/local HTX), if you care. I specialize in Local SEO, Google My Business optimization, Content Strategy/Marketing for the same niches I mentioned previously, working with LGBT business owners, businesses selling (ethical, quality) products that Facebook won’t permit to be advertised on their platforms, etc. I got to the point of deep dissatisfaction doing work just to work; I believe every action we perform is social advocacy in some sense - even the act of burying one’s head in the sand has a social consequence. That’s why I work to educate and empower SMBs, especially those on the fringe.
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@Redheadrocker (and @Maggzzz ),
That’s great news, in the sense that your contributions potentially carry more weight, and the space you occupy is in need of documenting all the more. In Houston, there is relatively little (pardon the expression) virgin territory for Local Guide-ing.
But remember! With great power comes great responsibility…
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That’s a very thorough explanation @kmichaelcook ! Thanks for sharing!
Just to weigh in on what I think about Local Guides @Maggzzz , it’s basically a program for Google Maps contributors. If you enjoy reviewing places, uploading photos, editing a place, then you’re a Local Guide 
But to officially join the program, you need to sign up first, which is very easy to do. In the link below, you can get a descriptive explanation of what Local Guides is all about, along with the link to join
https://maps.google.com/localguides
Hope that helps! And if you have further questions, feel free to ask more in here, Local Guides Connect, as this is the official community for all Local Guides all over the world