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.
Like photos, videos have a view count and in the absence of a better metric, in this post 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.
As you will see, this post includes a set of leaderboards that showcase the star videos of Local Guides from all over the world and whether you are a level 10 or a level 2 Local Guide, if you have contributed video on Maps, you can join in to showcase your star, and it’s simple to do. Just hit this link and register or if you need any help with this, then add a comment in this post and someone will jump in to assist 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 haven’t as yet shared your star video thenregister nowas we’d all love to see it!
Readme - How to Read the Star Video leaderboards (May 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.
Local Guides that have not updated their star video details in the month covered by the Star Photo leaderboards will be excluded from the Average Views/Day leaderboard.
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 6:30 PM on May 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.
This month’s featured star video is that shot by @abermans (Sam) of the Spitalfield Market, London, UK. Sam describes it as being “a lovely old market that has been rejuvenated to a popular foods and restaurants and high end boutiques shops.” In his post which you can see here, Sam mentions that it’s an older video (taken in January 2022) that has returned to the top after several months of new videos rising to the top.
Yes @AdamGT that totally makes sense. From a purely mathematical perspective, the same number of views divided by an increasing number of days will give a reducing number as a result over time.
The same is true for star photos but it is not as obvious for photos that are 5 or 6 years old (1825 to 2190 days), whereas many of us only have videos a few months old (less than 365 days).
That’s why I always challenged your historical average for my Star photo as compared to my much smaller current average now that it has become a red star.
Thanks for posting another board, @AdamGT . The decrease in average makes me wonder if the shine has come off of video contributions. My star rocketed up really quickly and is now stagnant. It’d help if I had a Star at a more popular location, but tons of people managed to see it in those first 2 months. Maybe 360 images will be the next big push
You clearly understood my terse comment @tony_b Older stars are certainly impacted more and these stars eventually become red stars and might drop off the average views per day board.
Yes @AdamGT but here’s an update now that I’ve had a chance to check:
My red Star Photo with over 2 million views is still showing more than 1000 views per day by your count because the life is spread over 6 years. But for a long time the reality has been more like 200 views for a whole month.
On the other hand, the Star Video is 951 per day by your count of the few months it has been up, whereas I see the reality as around 1793 for the most recent Delta views for a month.
Hello @AdamGT , Thank you for the video leaderboard. As @tony_b observed, the Level 10 Star Videoboard indicates that there is no change in the view count for 63 percent of Local Guides compared to previous month. The featured video of @abermans is looking great.
I’m in the same boat as many others my star video has not received even one view since the first week of February. I keep wondering if it will ever change. It’s disheartening!
Scenario #1 Average views constant - By definition, if the views today equals yesterday’s average views per day (for convenience, we’ll call this the average views) then the average views today will remain constant, that is, it will remain unchanged and equal yesterday’s average views.
Scenario #2 Average views decreasing - However, if the views today is less than yesterday’s average views then the average views today will decrease. Depending on the numbers, the average views could remain the same but if this scenario was to continue, you will end up with a red star. In your case, your star photo has an average of 1000+ views but in reality the daily views are way below this at between 6 to 7 views per day. Definitely a red star!
Scenario #3 Average views increasing - Conversely, if the views today is greater than yesterday’s average views then the average views today will increase. Once again, depending on the numbers, the average views could remain the same but in your case, your star video has an average of 951 views per day by my count over the few months it has been up, whereas you see the reality as around 1793 for the most recent Delta views for a month, that is daily views are way above the average so it’s clear that the average views will increase; definitely not a red star!
Of course their can be many variations/fluctuations between these but the scenario that many are experiencing is that all of a sudden their star is getting no views is an extreme case of (2).
ps: The average views is a good indication on what is happening however, possibly a better indicator is to look at what is called the moving average and for some time I have been thinking about introducing this The moving average helps determine the direction of a trend and is used by the likes of market analysts and investors. So rather than looking at the average over the life of our star, we look at the average over the most recent periods, that is, what is happening now! Perhaps it’s a good time to introduce this
Older stars are certainly impacted more and these stars eventually become red stars and might drop off the average views per day board.
is an extreme case of (2).