Feedback is a gift - I bet many have heard this idiom before. And to be honest it really is.
There are countless materials about how precious it is to give and get feedback. There are many tips and methods how to do it and I highly recommend to google this topic gaining useful skills which you can leverage from both in your private or professional life.
Every review on Google Maps is a feedback. Feedback to a restaurant, feedback to a museum, feedback to the maintenance team of a park, and so on. I truly believe that these many feedback given by millions of Local Guides are actually useful for the owners of these places and we can contribute to make the world a little bit better by it.
However this demands that you provide quality feedback. Positive feedback is easy - you loved a place and you praise it. I like to speak in superlatives in case I was really amazed by something as I know it perfectly signalises to people caring about that place that they are on the right track and I am thankful for their work. Negative feedback however always has to be deliberate, constructive and actionable. “This place is bad” or “I hated it” is a way to release stress but not helpful for anyone. If you had an unpleasant situation, describe the circumstances, describe what happened and what it caused to you. It will be more helpful for others to understand the situation and get an actual idea about what should be changed. I also think that writing pointless negative feedback triggers newer and newer pointless negative feedback from others that can hurt a place unnecessarily.
This picture below is from a waffle place Ahoy! Forró Csokoládé, Gofri, Limonádé & Smoothie in Budapest, Hungary. As you can see there are two jars - one for Captain America, one for Iron Man - where you can place your tip based on your preference. Some feedback again but to fictive characters this time
I was surprised by the fact that Iron Man’s jar was empty. I mean, who does not like Iron Man, right? And then I became uncertain and put my coins into Captain America’s jar too - but oh, why?! This was a pure act of following the mass but fortunately a very low impact one. I’m so sorry, Iron Man!
The conclusion is that whenever you write a review on Google Maps you provide feedback that is transparent to every person who checks that place and it has a certain power. Be aware of this, think twice before writing anything and try to be as useful as you can. I know it requires more time and energy, I’m also not that good at it every time I’m doing it but at least we should try to lean for better quality every time we wan to share something.
Thanks for reading and I wish valuable review time!