Ok. I don’t remember how I started doing this Local Guide thingie. It was probably one of those Google messages like: You just visited the World Trade Center. What did you think? I guess i left a few reviews, but then I got one of those other messages like: You’re a level one guide. Add a few more points and reach the next level.
Well, once I realized there were other levels based on accumulated points, my competitive nature kicked in and I was off trying to get as many points as possible. Oh, and badges: Gotta get me some of those!
But what happened along the way was that I gotta kick out of seeing how many views of my photos and reviews I was getting. 368 views. Cool! Even when I had gotten all the views I needed to master this badge or master that, I still wanted to get more. I had learned what kind of stuff got views and concentrated on that. But I found that these photos and reviews were really helping people and I got a lot of satisfaction out of that.
And now I find myself looking often on my phone to see how many views my photos are getting, and I find it really interesting to see what gets a lot of views and what doesn’t; and there’s something really satisfying and comforting about it all. Don’t get me wrong. I still want to snag more points, but it has become so much more.
Its also very satisfying when a picture I added, just because I love the subject, gets a lot of views. My most popular photos are street views of stores or restaurants. So to get more points or views I add a lot of those. And its nice to know that these kind of shots help a lot of people. Most of the time photos of nature or art, both of which I love, don’t get a lot of views. But I add them anyway and hope that a few hundred or so will enjoy them.
Below are two nature photos that, happily, got a ton of views; like tens of thousands.
Waterfall in Central Park, New York City
Like I said, I love being outdoors; whether it’s little local parks in my area or big national parks. So it means a lot to me to see that the photo with the most views is a photo I took in Central Park in NYC. First of all, as you fellow Local Guides know, tons of people add photos to Google Maps of major landmarks like Central Park. So you don’t get a lot of views because they quickly get lost in the thousands of photos that are getting added. Also hundreds of them all look the same. So to have a photo that I took in Central Park get over 550,000 views is really satisfying. I think that happened because I took a photo in a section of the park that is much less frequented than the more famous parts. It also might be that it is of a waterfall. What are the chances of finding a waterfall in the middle of one of the most crowded islands in the world right?
Another nature shot that I took at Denali National Park also got a ton of views.
Grizzly Bear Mom and Cub in Denali National Park, Alaska
Some artsy photos that got a lot of views include:
Salmagundi Art Club in New York City
Cavalier Gallery, New York City
Forum Gallery, New York City
Cantor Roof Garden & Bar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
The photo of this weird and wonderful sculpture got 16,000 views before it was somehow removed from Google Maps.
Mural at Casa Del Popolo, Montreal, Canada