Monday 22 May 2017

Google Local Guides - When effort doesn't get rewarded....

As many of my friends know I am one of London's biggest fans.

I know every new club, would've tried every new restaurant, and if they've friends or relatives coming to visit, I'm the first port of call for planning their trips.  Getting the teenager into a Fashion Show, the Grandmother back-stage to meet her hero in a West End Theatre etc.

And as such, I've been pursuing for some time to be Tripadvisors top London Reviewer, and I'm currently in the top 1% .

A couple of months ago, it was brought to my attention that Google were offering a trip to San Francisco to meet other Local Google Guides but more importantly for me, the team behind Google Maps.

I only heard about Google Local Guides 10 weeks ago. I'd written one review on Google Maps over 5 years ago, but had made no more contributions to it since. The GLG programme seemingly launched 3 years later.

As such, I only had 6 weeks to go from 2 points to over 500 to reach the required level to enter.

As it was, with my total commitment to the goal, before the deadline for submission, I had managed to add over 1,000 new location photographs, submit 60 proper reviews, not just a couple of lines and a star rating and gone from 2 points to over  600.

It would appear my short time on Google Local Guides must have gone against me on this occasion though.

As I discovered today I wasn't selected, when Google confirmed, that all notifications had gone out on Friday.

In itself, a minor consideration, but the hours of labour (3 - 4 hours everyday for the past 2 months) required to reach the necessary means of entry, meant I have in essence wasted all this time.

One of the reason for the commitment came from the fact that I am, as they say, #UniquelyLondon and could find it difficult to see how anyone else could compete.

No other Londoner can make the claims I can to knowing this city, mainly because nobody has the first and only's I have.

I'm the only Londoners to have had his Video Diary taken into the Museum of London Permanent collection, making me a 21st Century Pepys.

I'm the only Londoner to have had a film shown on the Coca-Cola Billboard in Piccadilly Circus.

And I'm one of a few thousand Londoners to have performed in the Closing Ceremonies of The London 2012 Olympic Games.

But I didn't make it, and I'd be interested to see if anyone from London did.  I noticed quite a few people on Twitter saying they've made it back again, which means they were selected last year and this.

This maybe algorithmic, or simply to knowing what the judges were looking for in the Google submission Video.

Either way it's a great shame and has certainly taken me off track of how I pursue my current goals.

Such a pity.