2022
- last edited on by
MariaBi
What’s it like to cover the globe throughout the day to help moderator with the Google Moderators and answer your Local Guides program and Google Maps questions here on Connect?
Your Local Guides Connect Moderators represent a huge spectrum of the world, representing 5 continents (Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America).
We are just like you, volunteer Local Guides who want to help make our local communities on Google Maps as much as the Connect Community better and welcoming.
Collectively, we were chosen by the Local Guides Team by our different cultures, languages, time zones, and our Local Guides program, Connect, and Google Maps knowledge and expertise.
This year, in 2018, we like to share our Local Guides experiences and insights with you, the Connect Community.
To start 2018 with our first virtual Connect Moderators Chat, the 10 of us asked each other these two questions:
- What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
- What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
Surprisingly, you will see a lot of similarities between us. Many of us have a thing for spam!
@Csaba
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
What I like about being a Connect Moderator is that I can help with keeping the forums clean of spam, organizing the topics by moving them to the correct boards and subforums. And, of course, it also allows me to keep daily contact with the Google Local Guides Team members. Certainly, I also like to help other, less experienced members with their problems but this would not need being a moderator.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
As I have already reached level 10 - and also the “master” badges, my only goal is to keep contributing with quality and valuable content. My weak point is reviews - I still need to improve in that area.
It would also be nice to participate in meet-ups (or even organizing them), but, unfortunately, my fellow Local Guides aren’t that active in this field either. Maybe, I should be pushier.
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
This is a bit hard to answer. I like to think of myself as just another active member of the Local Guides community, who happened to be selected to be one of the moderators to the community. A good thing about being a moderator is having the ability help the community to be more enjoyable to everyone (or at least I try). Things like being able to mark someone’s answer as ‘Accepted Solution’, for example. Or being able to merge posts to make the board cleaner. I like to believe that doing elementary stuff like this can make a huge difference in the experience spent here on Local Guides Connect.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
I honestly don’t have a specific goal. Being a Local Guide is about being consistent. So I will keep continuing doing what I love, which is providing high-quality contributions on Google Maps consistently, engaging the community through Local Guides Connect and local communities, and continuing my habit of reaching out to Local Guides whenever I visit a new place. But first of all, to have fun!
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
The answer to such a simple question is, EVERYTHING! Fundamentally, I enjoy knowing I help other Local Guides around the world. Being on the Spanish-language board is wonderful, but it is best to be able to read outside of that board and meet and interact with many other Local Guides globally.
Our cultures are very different, but in many ways, I find we have similar likes and tastes. Most of us want the same--take photos, share our experiences, and read and learn about others.
Being a Local Guide and being on Connect enriches us, since it gives us the opportunity, more than other types of social media networks, to know the other from the most human side there is, from the side of solidarity. There are so many examples, that reading them makes me see the deep meaning of being a Local Guide and in particular a Moderator in Connect.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
My 2018 Local Guides objectives are:
- Reach Level 10 by the end of the year by traveling more around my city and registering new businesses, continue with taking and uploading photos, etc.
- That the Spanish-speaking community be bigger and participate more in Connect.
- To be able to help more Local Guides on non-Spanish language boards.
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
I love to help the Local Guides community, especially in the German-speaking countries, to promote fellow Local Guides, and to share my experiences.
As a Connect Moderator, I can bring some order to our diverse, global community. Here, many beginners questions are mixed with special topics/questions, but also more and more inappropriate (aka spam) content. As a moderator, I can help you find what you are looking for by keeping an eye on the structure.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
- To reach Level 9. I have to almost double my points. I want to achieve this by adding places to topics where I go daily and where I know my way around. These are above all electromobility (e. g. charging stations) and family-related topics.
- I love it if I could attend a Local Guides Summit again. If you have lots of contact with fellow Local Guides online, it's even better if you can meet in real life. Attending a Summit is where you can grow strong friendships, be creative together, and enjoy common goals.
- I want to become more active regionally. Currently, I am organizing my first meet-up; I am looking forward to it!
- I just started with 360-degree photography. I hope my 360 photos will earn me a Street View Trusted Photographer badge soon
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
Being a Connect Moderator gives me my opportunity to be a global cheerleader. I like to encourage and bring out the best in people. I ask lots of questions to start conversations as well as help my fellow Local Guides. In particular, I enjoy seeing newbie Local Guides blossom and get active here on Connect while also be active in their local Local Guides community. I have learned so much more about the world because of reading, seeing all your wonderful photos, interacting with so many of you here.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
My 2018 Local Guides goals are simple:
- Keep going to both new and existing places and businesses in my community and provide my “local” tips and photos with each review to help me reach Level 9.
- Focus on reviewing family-related places and businesses.
- Enjoy my time as a Connect Moderator by encouraging and supporting my fellow Local Guides.
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
Protecting people from spam is my number one enjoyment because this is one forum where I can actually do something about the spammers, phishers and other miscreants trying to go after our online Local Guides community.
Next, would have to be helping people answering their questions by providing them information from supported Google sources.
Finally, being able to welcome new Local Guides, especially on the posts that don’t seem to get any attention. It takes guts to post on a public forum and if that forum ignores you, it’s awful. I visit the unanswered posts list before I check notifications to make sure everyone feels included.
Through Local Guides and most recently on Connect, I am able to communicate with Googlers and Local Guides in a way that is highly unusual in any corporate environment, I really appreciate being a small part of that journey for everyone.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
I don’t have goals in anything, but for me is to improve my own quality. I’m on my way to Level 9 but I’m in no hurry to get there. I want to get there because of contributions that I can be proud of. I don’t want to be that Local Guide that goes all out but submits nothing but junk just to reach Level 10. These Local Guides tend to find out the hard way that sticking your head up above the crowd tends to lead to a bit of scrutiny.
Actually, thinking about it I do have one goal, going to Summit 2018! I really love the Summit because I can catch up with Googlers and alumni, meet new friends, and enjoy aspects of a country that I would not be able to afford traveling to in a way that I can justify to my family.
I want to get invited to the Summit again on merit. I will get involved with more Local Guiding than previous years, from meetups, workshops, assisting people in Connect and my own personal contributions.
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
What I love most about being a Connect Moderator is being exposed to numerous friends daily. Connect is a platform which helps Local Guides to get together and solve issues related to Local Guides program and Google Maps. I relish being a Connect Moderator as it helps me reach many more people from around the globe and help them sort out their questions and queries. In my role as a Connect Moderator which I am grateful for, I have amplified my network of friends, by being exposed to many people with similar thoughts and interests.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
The year 2018 is going to be a fun-filled year in my Local Guide journey:
- Embracing accessibility among Local guides Google map users through meet-ups and knowledge sharing sessions.
- Rejoicing nature at its purest and share the message of sustainable natural resource utilization around the globe.
- Reducing the number of errors existing in the Google Maps of my hometown and country, Sri Lanka, by undertaking as many Geo walks as possible and correct these inaccuracies.
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
Interacting with people is something that I really like, and Local Guides Connect is a place where I have a lot of friends. Also, I was a “spam fighter” from my very first days in the community. Being a Connect Moderator I have the possibility to take a more active role, helping our online global community to be a clean place.
I love having fun, but I also like to have everything in the right place. Moving and merging Connect posts, accepting solutions when needed are what my rational side likes. Sharing photos, chatting and encouraging fellow Local Guides, trying to reply to everyone, and having fun on Connect are what gratifies my playful side.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
- Try to reach L9 before the end of the year. I like to find and add places that aren’t on Google Maps
- Start to post “non-professional” 360 and get the Street View Trusted Photographer badge. There are paths that I want to put in Map.
- “Colors” is my keyword for 2018. I already started with a Connect post about colors, and others will follow.
- I have a global project for the Local Guides Community for 2018. I cannot reveal the details yet, but it will be disclosed soon.
What do you like about being a Connect Moderator?
I like being a Connect Moderator because I can contribute more toward Connect. When I see there can be a better place for a Connect topic, I can move it directly. Sometimes, when I try to give some advice to Local Guides at Connect, they will try to understand what I am saying - it does not mean they will do what I am telling. That’s fine as long as they listened and have their own decision.
What are your goals as a Local Guide for 2018?
As a Hong Kong/Taiwan Local Guide, I want to see more activities from fellow Local Guides from my cities--no matter if they are meet-ups, Connect activities, or Google Maps activities. I will keep focusing on how to make Google Maps better for local usage. Local Language in Google Maps and Connect will always on my radar.
@Flash
@Flash, Connect Moderator
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What are your 2018 Local Guides Goals? Do you have similar goals you would like to share here?
For future Connect Moderator Chat posts, do you have questions you would like us, Connect Moderators, to answer?
