In 1999 I got my first computer and months later there was a dial-up connection at my house. At the time, there were not many sites in Brazil and no imperative (or algorithm) that would lead me to search for content. My activities on the internet were: searching for video game cheats, lyrics and chat with friends.
Two years later, I had left the encyclopedias aside and started using the internet as a source of research for schoolwork. When I got to know Wikipedia, I fell in love with that philosophy of collaboration and it became my way of being an Internet user.
Sharing and building knowledge, along with other people, became my imperative.
In 2003, my contributions on the online encyclopedia platform were constant: I translated articles from English into Brazilian Portuguese and wrote everything about Mortal Kombat (my favorite video game series until Google Maps - click here to learn more).
Because my intention was to give to users the best experience possible.
An interesting fact that marks my philosophy of voluntary contribution was when I tried to find out an official website about Mortal Kombat in Brazil (typing www.mortalkombat.com.br). To my surprise, that address belonged to a kennel!
I remember calling (hidden from my mother) the kennel`s owner offering money to sell me the property on the site.
Trying to make the website address match a convenient result.
A few years passed and I discovered colleagues using Foursquare (Is it blasphemous to write this here?). Users could become “mayor” of a place, if you were the most frequent visitor of that place. Being a “mayor”, I could edit the place, correct names, give tips, make reviews, etc.
I saw this as an opportunity to contribute outside the virtual world.
But, Foursquare was not so famous in Brazil. I realized that I was not helping many people and I decided to interrupt my “race for mayorships”.
I wanted to make a bigger impact!
I already knew Google Maps, but I didn’t know about its possibilities of contribution (for me what was there was a developers things). When I discovered that I could contribute, I thought: the impact of being a Google product can be much greater in future.
Since I started to dedicate myself to Google Maps, everything that fascinated me from the beginning I found (and have found) in Google Maps.
My philosophy and online lifestyle had a name: “Google Local Guide”!
Today I am sure that I have helped people to have better online and offline experiences, in a contribution network so diverse and inclusive that even in my most utopian dream I could not have seen.
Local Guides Program means recognizing this genuine feeling that I have brought with me for almost 20 years: contributing, editing and sharing.
