Feedback on Local Guide Meetup 2

In October, I hosted another meetup to invite Local Guides in Houston. I want to give LG another try on LocalGuideConnection.com website, which is changed to https://maps.google.com/localguides. They didn't tell me that. (this is usual with Google. I'm not surprised.)

My event was called National Cookies Month meetup in Houston TX. I limited 10 guests as I usually do. But I received a message from someone really wanted to attend but there was no more opening. That's odd. Among those 10, there were only 4 replied had reviews in Houston.

  1. Jawahir (Finland) - Level 2 - 109176936456734675648
  2. Bunda Imoet (Indonesia) - Level 6 - 114393280060569328492
  3. salvatore porru (Italy) Level 5 - 113940019571382231665
  4. Ericka Flowers (Houston) Level 3 - 106689765669046657086
  5. Vito Montanaro (Italy) Level 3 - 102425615440366601261
  6. MrAHMED SAEID (Egypt) Level 4 - 101547467045030028617
  7. William Daniel (Thailand) Level 3 - 115909375203005254472
  8. Siddharth srivatsa (Houston) Level 4 - 104503682632363210984
  9. Ashley Nichols (Houston) Level 4 - 109788889396731111856
  10. Blessed Chishanga (Houston) Level 5 - 117559043957034298852

Soooo... are those foreigners decided to travel across the ocean to attend my meetup? Or... they can't change the RSVP after clicked on "Attend this meetup". I am contemplating to give up this Local Guides meetup idea completely. It's a lot of hassle and lot of learning (my first try was a lot of work).

In my opinion, Google Maps reviews could never be like Yelp. Here are my thoughts to compare them:
  • Local Guides could never be like Yelpers. It lacks standards on reviewers. Everybody can be Local Guides and no incentive at any level. These levels do not translate to longevity and knowledge. 
  • There is no connection between Local Guide profile and Google+ profile. As I suggested on my first meetup feedback, I can't message attendees effectively.
  • Yelp has 2 classes of reviewers, Elite Squad and everybody else. We Elites tend to have higher expectation on how we behave in the community. Local Guides don't have any prestige. 
  • On Yelp Events, there are "I'm in" and "Sounds Cool". There are more people on Yelp observe RSVP rules than Google Local Guides. If you can't attend, you can always change your status.  I'm not sure if this is the case with Google Local Guides event page. I asked those attendees to message me, but no one replied. 
I get 3 chances to add event updates. But did attendees get notified?
Another issue with Google Local Guides, they don't require to use real name and real photos. I met a guy at my first Meetup. He said, "I'm here for your meetup" like I know him. Wait, the profile has no photo. That's another thing. That 21-digit profile number from Google+ profile has no relationship to profile on LocalGuideConnection.com.

If I were going to share another meetup on Local Guides page, I would limit it to 1. Anyone who wanted to attend would need to announce themselves in the discussion and hit my Google+ Event page to RSVP for real. Wow. Isn't that too much work for them? Well. It might be my last time to post anything at all.

Oh, BTW, no one from Local Guides showed up. That person who messaged me told me few hours prior to starting that he/she can't make it. (The avatar was blank)

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