Sharing & contributing
During many work and holiday travels I gained considerably from the experiences of many through their reviews and photos of businesses, hotels, cafes and restaurants etc. I decided to give back:
-
Adding reviews: Initially I was adding trivial reviews, without photos, and on a very much casual when I felt like it basis. My reviews were one-liners with really not much thought given like: “The coffee was great”, “This hotel was clean”, “Worth a visit”. Then I discovered and joined Local Guides leading to a more consistent, structured and rewarding approach, taking more care noting the facilities/services in an establishment: “was the service noteworthy”, “was the staff helpful”, “was the establishment accessible friendly” etc. My reviews improved and the stats showed that they were more impactful. For example, a review I added a month ago for Common Ground Coffee, a husband and wife run small cafe, has had over 2700 views in that month. As well as helping this small business, this is very self-rewarding.
-
Adding photos to reviews: With a total of 73m photo-views and with two of my business reviews each having over 1m photo-views (1.4m and 1.7m respectively), there can be no doubt that my photos have been super impactful to others. This is very self-rewarding and means a lot to me as a Local Guide.
-
Adding missing places has been a great way for me to share my personal experiences on my discoveries. Putting these businesses/places “on the map” has helped them grow and impacts on the experiences of millions of Maps users. This has helped me learn more about the world around me, knowledge and details that I would otherwise not have discovered! I’ve added 473 places (with dozens pending approval), and based on the contribution stats, the places I recently added have had 134,513 views and 897,928 photo-views, clearly indicating that my added places/photos have been super impactful to others.
-
Editing existing places has meant that I have helped Maps users by providing both missing (e.g. telephone no) and more accurate (e.g. correct business name and location) information and there is nothing worse than relying on what you believe to be a credible source only to find that it provides incorrect information. This helps people correctly discover the things worth doing and the best way of getting there. I have made over 5,400 edits.
-
Answering questions about the places I have visited has been another great and self-rewarding way of helping users. It has forced me to pay more attention to the details and learn more about places. I have answered 17,100+ questions and based on the number and specific nature of many of the questions related to one major business, there can be no doubt that my answers have been super impactful on the respective Maps users.
Being a Local Guide has also allowed me to contribute by helping newbie LGs and in improving the functionality of Maps. For example, when Maps Lists were first released you couldn’t manage the order of the Points of Interest (POI) that you added to your Lists and the photos associated with each POI you added would not necessarily be your own. Through the Idea Exchange I suggested improved Lists functionality (see here and here) and it’s very satisfying, and means a lot to me that these ideas have been implemented.
Connecting & Engaging
Being a Local Guide also means that I’ve had the opportunity to connect and engage with other like minded LGs from around the world. I have gained a lot from this regularly on the Connect platform. Sharing about local and travel stories, foods and drink, as well as cultures has been a rewarding and amazing experience!!!
Self-improvement
One of the most enjoyable aspects of connecting and engaging with fellow LGs has been the amazing photos and the photography ‘how-tos’ and tips shared by the many expert photographers and those much more skilled than myself. This has helped me tremendously in improving my personal photography skills which has over time dramatically improved the quality of my Maps reviews and Connect posts, as well as my personal photography collection. Thank you all. In this post I’ve included some of my review photos.
