Hi, I’m Srushti, a student in Germany working on my bachelor’s thesis about what motivates people to contribute on platforms like Google Maps, and TripAdvisor.
If you’re a Local Guide or have contributed on any travel platform, whether for points, perks, or just because you enjoyed it — I’d genuinely love to hear your story.
I’m looking to speak with a few contributors (even if you’ve stopped!) for a short 15–20 minute online interview. Your experience could really help shape how platforms build better reward systems in the future.
Please feel free to reply here or message me on LinkedIn: Srushti Raghavendra.
Even one reply would honestly make my day — I’m just hoping this reaches the right people. Thank you!
Many Local Guides here contribute for different reasons — some enjoy helping others with accurate information, some love sharing their travel experiences, and some simply feel happy seeing their contributions make a real difference to people.
I’m sure you will find a lot of valuable perspectives from the community….
Interesting subject you are bring up. Why do you need a reward to do anything? If it is intetesting to participate maybe that is the reward. I use Google Maps as my digital footprint and is happy to share my good memories with others. The gamification - points and badges - are just the icing on the cake so to speak. Good luck with your project. Feel free to ask further questions.
Hi @Srushti1
I will respond to you with a question: Are you a user of Google Maps?
If so, do you find helpful photos and reviews uploaded by Local Guides like you and me?
I am a user, and I find that the biggest reward is a free App constantly updated with the information that I am looking for: Google Maps.
I personally don’t trust perks as a motivation, because in my experience they are increasing the people that is contributing for quantity, not for quality, mostly with very poor and useless contributions
I can assure you it isn’t just Travel platforms, but any online forum or group. Not sure about the 15 minute interview, but here are my thoughts. Perhaps the word crowdsourcing is the correct description for these platforms where the general public are encouraged to feed information into a common cause. Then gamification creates an addictive aspect to it. I’ve never had any expectation of money or physical reward from any platform, but there’s a good feeling when an email arrives saying I’ve earned so many points or reached another level.
I don’t remember what got me started on TripAdvisor and then Google Maps, but since I don’t travel much there weren’t very many posts. I no longer respond to TripAdvisor emails prompting me to do stuff. My Google Maps journey really started after I got my first Android phone, and everywhere I went locally it prompted me to do a review. Everytime I took photos Google assumed I wanted to post them somewhere. But my contributions were few and far between. only happening when something specific occurred. But it is the gamification emails that get us addicted - post to keep an unbroken streak, do this to reach the next level, you’re getting closer to your next badge.
One point to note is that there are a variety of ways to contribute on Google Maps. The way your question was asked implies you’re focused on reviews. My contributions in Photos, Edits, and Roads far exceed the number of Reviews I’ve ever done. There would be others like me, but lets hope you get some responses from users who spend a lot of time reviewing a wide variety of places.
