What does the Local Guides program mean to me?

Google Local Guides program for me can be described in just two words: Content and Community. As the world is becoming more global, our interdependence on each other has increased manifold and so our responsibility towards society. Google Local Guides provides a huge and an easily accessible platform for those who want to contribute to the society. The local guides feel a part of this big ecosystem where people help each other find things, make better decisions, share insights, all of this at once.

It makes me happy and proud when I get a notification that x number of people view my photos or y number of people read my reviews. It is a matter of pride that my experience helped someone. I still wait for days when I can just go on the page and post reviews, pictures and suggestions for one hour straight. Besides this, the other thing that helps me contribute more and more is the participation of the community. There are times when I get replies from the restaurant owners when I post a review about them, asking me to visit them often. Even when there is negative feedback, there are people thanking me for flagging it and ensuring that they will be working on it.

The platform, as peculiar as it can be, has provided all of us with such a vast repository of information and with an option to participate, it makes me come back to it, again and again. And I enjoy being at both the ends, be it contributing or finding.

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