Google Maps has changed the world for the better. It’s something most progressive people use on a daily basis, to help navigate their way around, but mostly to find relevant information about the places they are visiting. That’s why I love to share my experiences of the places I’ve visited on the Google Maps platform.
As I’m writing this, I’m sitting at O.R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa, on my way to my next adventures, in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana, where I’m hoping my experience could benefit others.
As someone who looks up a place on Google Maps before I visit, not just to see the location, but also to look at the reviews, business hours etc, I can’t help but feel that I need to contribute towards that in order to help others who use the same method to find information.
The information you find on Google Maps has enormous value. It’s a great way for businesses to interact with their customers directly. It’s a great way for people to discover what to expect from a place based on others’ reviews. Links to websites, menus, making a booking, the photos posted, and of course the star ratings, makes the Google Maps platform the most useful tool for anyone looking at a business or point of interest.
That’s why I just love contributing towards it. Adding some new information to all the places I get to visit makes a difference. Be it just a review, a rating or suggesting an edit to the information, I know it’s making a difference. Finding the facts or answering some questions about a place makes this big world of ours so much smaller and easier to navigate. Each time a business responds to one of my reviews, I get a great sense of satisfaction knowing that they took note of what I had to say and that my voice is being heard.
I love that the photos I post on Google Maps give people a true perspective of what a place is like from a visitors point of view. I love writing truthful, honest reviews for places, based on the experience I had, in the hopes that they serve the purpose of informing others what to expect. I love reading the reviews of others to see if we had similar experiences, making me feel somewhat connected to them. Although most places are already mapped on the platform, I love how I, as an everyday consumer, can add new or missing places.
For me, writing a review has become second nature. It’s the must-do thing on my list after I have visited a place. I feel that my reviews should include need-to-know information within the first few sentences, because I know people don’t want to read a long winded review. I also feel that leaving a rating without a proper review is the wrong thing to do as that doesn’t give any explanation as to why you rated that way.
I love the points you get every time you add something useful to the platform, and how you move up a level after having contributed significantly. Secretly, I also love the feeling I get every month when Google sends me the statistics of how my reviews are helping others! So sharing my experiences with the world in such a user-friendly, simplistic way as Google Maps, gives me a sense of gratification knowing that little by little I’m contributing toward making the world a better place.
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