Starting as a Google Local Guide

Google has recently introduced Local Guides, a way to gamify how we rate and review restaurants and businesses. Through Google maps, you were always able to write a reviews and post pictures of various establishments from restaurants to malls and even mechanics and car dealerships.

Before the start of such an initiative it was very popular to write about your experiences about the places you’ve been to, I mean yes there is Yelp and TripAdvisor, but we always went there to check other reviews, hardly ever to contribute our own. For example, whenever I’m off to another city, or even googling things to do in my own town, I always check the ratings of the different places, and try to read two contradicting reviews so you can have a better idea of the place I’m going to, but I never thought about writing my own experiences to the places I’ve been.

This is where the gamification system really work, writing reviews and taking pictures becomes like a game, because the more you add the more points you’ll get.

And it really works, since I have joined the program I have written 40 something reviews, and have added a dozen pictures of places. You might say well look at this you are helping Google maps out for free and in return they’re giving you imaginary points that essentially mean nothing.

Well to that I say you are completely right, although the program comes with “benefits” the more points you collect, some of them are irrelevant unless you live in a big city with a large local guides community that you can meet with. Also when you reach level 3 you get a special badge beside your name to show that you are a “certified” guide, and once you reach level 4 you get some free Google drive space.

So here comes the question then, Why do it? well I’ve noticed a few things happen to me since I’ve started doing this. The first, is that now I want to go explore new places, try things that I didn’t know about or go places I have never been. The second, is that it forces to take pictures, now a lot of people would say this isn’t really a benefit, but I mean taking a picture is a way to immortalize the moment. You no longer have to rely on your shaky memory to remember where you’ve been, or what you had or did. The third one, which is the one I like the most, is that it makes you live the moment and enjoy the experience, because you know you have to write about later on, so you’d wanna absorb everything that is happening around you.

Whether you agree or disagree with what is mentioned, it is worth a shot checking it out, maybe your review could help someone like me go or stay away from a place that you have been to. Every bit added will eventually help someone out, and to me that is more than enough.