Each day we’re seeing more and more Local Guides contributing videos on Maps, sharing their experiences at the places they enjoy so that others can get a much better appreciation of these places and make better informed decisions about visiting them. This post is about such videos and more specifically, it’s about showcasing the “best” videos taken by Connect Local Guides from all over the world. In the absence of a better metric, we use the number of views that a video has as a measure of that video’s “quality” and we refer to the video having the most views as being our star video.
The post includes leaderboards for different Local Guide levels and in this way, whether you are a level 10 or a level 5 Local Guide, if you have contributed video on Maps, you can join in to showcase your star. If you wish to join just leave a message on this post and someone will help you.
So what can you learn from the Star Videos Leaderboards?
By sharing our video contributions and achievements we can learn a lot about how to improve the quality of our videos so that we can achieve even better outcomes in terms of the impact that they have on our communities. We have been doing this successfully with photos over many years and so we can do the same with videos so join in and let’s see if together we can learn what type of videos work “best” on Maps.
If you’re new here then you may not be aware that this post forms part of a series of leaderboard posts each covering different aspects of the Maps contributions made by Local Guides. To see an index to these different leaderboard posts and all posts associated with them, simply hit this link.
Readme - How to Read the Star Video leaderboards (June 2024)
Briefly, this is what you need to know about the leaderboards in this post. For more details see the leaderboard documentation and the Leaderboard System’s online context-sensitive help information.
The leaderboards in this post present details about the star videos of participating Local Guides from all over the world. If you have contributed videos on Maps then you will have a star video, it’s your video that has the most views and we call this, the star video.
As well as an overall leaderboard, you will see leaderboards for different Local Guide levels which provide you with direct comparisons of your star video’s performance with that of your peers. Finally, there’s a leaderboard ranking the top 100 star videos by average star views per day which gives an indication on how good your star video is. To be included in this leaderboard, you must have updated your star video’s views in the period since the date of the last average star views per day leaderboard as posted here on Connect last month.
The average star views per day is calculated by dividing the star views by the life of the star video expressed in days. The life of the star video is equal to the number of days between when you first uploaded your star video on Maps and the date that you last updated the star views and thus, will be different for each participating Local Guide. Therefore, for accuracy of the information it is important that you enter the correct dates. When it comes to the date that you last updated the star views, point #2 above is very important.
As well as the star views and the date uploaded onto Maps, each listing on the leaderboards shows the Maps Category, and a description (e.g. Storefront, Building or Park) of the respective Local Guide’s star video.
If the Maps Category of a star video is shown as a link and if the name of the relevant Place of Interest was provided by the respective Local Guide, then hovering over that link will show you the name of the place and selecting that link will take you to a screenshot with details of that place as stored on the Local Guides, 2024 Star Videos post, a “star video album” if you will, of star videos.
If the Maps Category of a star video is shown on a colored background then that star video has been selected as one of the best that meets the formatting requirements as specified in the star video album post. Select that star video’s category and see why it has been rated as one of the best and read more about that star video on the “star video album” post.
Preceding some of the leaderboards, you may see a number of screenshots of featured star videos. If so, these are a selection from those that best meet the requirements as detailed in the “star video album” post.
Clicking or selecting any of the featured star video images shown will take you to where you can view the Local Guide’s video.
Where shown, around leaderboard sequence numbers indicate that this is the first time that the Local Guide has participated on the Top 100 Local Guides leaderboards.
Where shown, ( ) around leaderboard sequence numbers indicate that this Local Guide levelled up/down onto this leaderboard.
An asterisk (*) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Connect Moderator.
Double asterisks (**) shown after a Connect Username indicates that that Local Guide is a Googler.
Hovering over a Local Guide’s username will display the integration number that integrates that Local Guide’s details on the Leaderboards System and Connect; the umbilical chord if you will between the two disparate systems.
Selecting a Connect Usernames will take you to that Local Guide’s Connect Profile.
Local Guides suspended or who have left the Local Guides program as well as those who have hidden their Maps profile are excluded from the Leaderboards.
A ? or the words “Not set” in a cell indicates that the respective value cannot be determined or hasn’t been provided by or for the respective Local Guide.
The data for the leaderboards in this post was read at 1730 on Tuesday, July 2, 2024 (UTC).
Local Guides included on the leaderboards must check their entries for any errors. If you should find any errors or omissions, please add the details in a comment on this post. Regarding omissions, please note point 17 above.
As you can see the featured video this month is @tony_b 's video of his lunch at KFC Oistins, Christ Church, Barbados and it got me thinking. Firstly, unlike his previous star video, a storefront type video of a fairly busy Burger King Restaurant, it’s a video of food and drink inside a café/restaurant. Secondly, it’s fairly short, just 9 seconds in duration and thirdly, the video is quite simple really, just a steady one pan across his lunch.
We’ve all no doubt seen many photos and videos of food and drink on Maps and I’ve often wondered if they are becoming more popular subjects by Local Guides. I note that a number of star videos, including my own are of food/drink. The short duration of Anthony’s video also got me thinking on what is the best duration for video to contribute to Maps!!
This is certainly a surprise @AdamGT . I never expected any contribution of mine to be featured. But you raise some valid points. Whereas my Star Photo which is now a red star has never been overtaken by any other of my photos, my original Star Video was quickly overtaken by this new food video after I posted it.
I don’t know the answer to your question about the best duration for video to contribute to Maps, but I always aim to stop before 10 seconds. I also notice that of all the fast-food restaurants here, my KFC contributions (either photo or video) always excel the others.
Unfortunately, all the assumptions and conclusions I was beginning to make about the process are now nullified by the changes that occurred after February 7th this year.
Good point @AdamGT ! I love to search out and watch short food videos of different restaurant entrees to help me decide. There is something about visually seeing the dish/beverage as it is served to help make the final decision.
Big congrats @tony_b for being featured in our June Star Video leaderboard.
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