I love sharing as a Local Guide because I like to give back to the community in a tangible way.
I like to be informed when I go places. Don’t get me wrong, I love adventuring and surprises as much as the next guy, but there are few things as disappointing as planning on visiting a new place and finding out it are not at all what you were expecting or even completely unavailable.
Before I became a Local Guide I didn’t really understand how the Google listings were updated. I assumed someone from Google called each business to verify their info and that was that! I remember one night my wife and I had to make a quick grocery run in the middle of the night. We were college students at the time, so our schedules were skewed pretty late into the night. When we arrived at the store we discovered that they had changed their hours and were already closed! As we were walking back to our car we ran into another person who made the same mistake we did - we had all checked the hours on Google Maps but didn’t verify with the business itself. That night I did some research on Google listings and discovered the role of local guides. I signed up in the hopes of preventing others from running aground as my wife and I had that night. Since then I have always updated hours, verified info, contact details, and answered whatever questions I am able! I truly enjoy giving back to my local community through providing information, and am very grateful to have access to a platform that reaches untold numbers of people each day. Every positive response I receive reaffirms my desire to keep my community up-to-date, and I feel I value the Google listings even more now that I help contribute to them.