A bit of history
When I started to think about this project, in the first days of January, I would never have imagined this moment.
I was walking on the beach, I just wanted to photograph the sunset, when a large patch of colored plastic presented itself to the view. The first thought (being a Local Guide) was to organize a meetup to clean the beach. I was already thinking about the date of the meetup, when, reading a post in Connect, about the Worldwide meetup (thanks @AlejandraMaría for posting the wonderful recap), my thinking has changed direction.
The hashtag #LocalGuidesCleanTheWorld borns in this way, used for the very first time on January 20, in Instagram. It was more than two months ago.
I started to write, to think, I changed ideas hundreds of times, I started to talk with some Connect Moderator and in this way the idea started to grow up.
I want to remember to everyone the Rules of behaviour for our activities: The 5 core values of Connect .
- We’re welcoming. Anyone can be a Local Guide, no matter where they live or what language they speak. We’re a truly global community! When new people join, we go out of our way to make them feel included.
- We’re thoughtful. How we use Connect defines the whole community’s experience, so we’re always mindful of how our actions affect others. This means being considerate in big ways (like only writing respectful things about — and to — each other) and small (like only tagging others in posts they’ll be delighted to see, since every tag generates a notification).
- We’re helpful. Our community thrives because we love to help each other. When we have a question, we post it on Connect so everyone can benefit from the answer. When we know the answer to someone else’s question, we post it in a reply (unless someone else already has). When we have a question, we post it on Connect so everyone can benefit from the answer. Google Moderators are active every day, looking for chances to jump in and solve problems, but the vast majority of issues are solved by other Local Guides — so keep an eye out for their solutions.
- We’re original. We post our own words, photos, and videos that we’ve created just for Connect. If we do share something that someone else created, we’re sure to give proper credit.
- We’re watchful. When we see something wrong, we say something about it. If a post is obscene, offensive, or not allowed for another reason, we tap the three dots at its top-right corner and select “Report Inappropriate Content.”
We are respectful, it would be my way of summarizing the concept. In this moment, and in the future, a lot of people is reading this post, here in Connect and shared in a lot of Socials. A lot of people is watching us.
Feel free to comment, to give suggestions, to discuss in all the different topic of the project
Yes, I still calling this “a project”, because it is my vision of the Idea: a project, for building up a better world. Half million of people, in this community, a lot of little drops to fill the sea.
To make this idea become true is our target.
Thanks to everyone
Ermes