The people who created the World Wide Web imagined it as a place where people would be able to exchange information globally for free; the citizens of the Internet would contribute & curate the content. This was also the idea behind social media: a company would provide a platform and the users would provide the content.
Remember that your contributions will be public and form part of your Digital Footprint!
In this post:
Required knowledge:
1. Content
Not all content is user-generated. If you have ever seen the Google Car, you know one of the methods that Google uses to create content for the web: literally driving around imaging everything as it goes.
I daresay, however, that a significantly massive amount of data is both contributed and curated (looked after) by the public in many ways, such as:
- Rating your experience each time you use Google Maps to navigate to a destination
- Adding places that do not already exist, editing places where the details have changed, deleting places that no longer exist
- Claiming your business if you have one, or helping someone you know claim their business
2. Making an edit
Speaking of Google Street View, how irritating is it when you Google for directions and then Google Search and Google Maps direct you to the incorrect address? I recently looked up the address of a business in a shopping centre that is a landmark on Main Street in Plettenberg Bay. Google listed it as being in Keurboomstrand — a suburb approximately 15 kilometres away. Additionally, there was no actual Google entry for Melville’s Corner Centre, despite it being one of the best-known landmarks in the town
Below is a view of my Gmail Inbox displaying the email update notifications regarding the contributions I made:
3. Making a contribution
Being the responsible digital citizen that I always try to be, I duly located Melville’s Centre and added it to Google Maps. Below is a screenshot of the contents of the email from Google notifying me that the contribution I made had been accepted:
I suspect that the more often a person contributes information and updates, and the more frequently the Google user community accepts those contributions, the more likely it is that the user’s contributions are accepted and the faster this process takes place in the future.
My contribution was quickly approved, and you can now see a business entry for Melville’s Centre.
4. Being a Local Guide
If you contribute information and you rate your experiences at venues regularly you can earn points as a Google Local Guide.
