What does the Local Guides program mean to me?
Some might think that Google’s Local Guides program is a gamified hoax to encourage users to review businesses on GoogleMaps Yelp-style. But hold on. It’s more than that.
Anybody can review on Yelp, TripAdvisor or GoogleMaps as long as you have an account. But being a Local Guide on GoogleMaps is more than just reviewing businesses.
Being a Local Guide is about co-creating a better world where we can find business we need and want. It’s about supporting new and undiscovered businesses without sufficient praise on GoogleMaps. And it means that I strive to not just review businesses, but add details about businesses when the public details on them or incorrect or outdated.
What is the Local Guides program? A community. We are a community of people who hold ourselves to a higher standard than dangling a good review over a company’s head. Local Guides have integrity. We put thought into our reviews and aim to review the restaurant as a whole, not a single part that we didn’t like.
I’m passionate about being a Local Guide and part of the Google Maps family because we show solidarity in open-sourcing knowledge in the world. Local Guides know no single person can know it all. Local Guides realize that we need to rely on each other’s strengths to create great products and experiences.
And lastly, we know that being part of an open-source experience means give and take. Local Guides give to our community through reviews, edits and additions because we know how valuable it is to find what we’re looking for. The community knows that everybody gains value out of accurate maps. It isn’t just for a select few. Local Guides are the ones who take 5 minutes out of our day a few times a week to add content GoogleMaps because we recognize the value that helping each other out truly is.
Yet in the end, we know that contributing to local guides helps somebody outside of the Local Guides community every single day.