Why I do Google's work for them - for free, Part 1

Someone commented that I was working for Google for free and that I should, instead, do voluntary charity work. The thing is, though, I like working for Google for free, and this post is to explain why. Actually, it's likely to be a long post so I'll split it into two - the first part will be about how I got involved with Google in the first place

In December 2005 I watched a t.v. programme called I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and I was curious about the location of the camp in Australia. I've always been interested in where people live and how they live. Although I love seeing famous sights, I much prefer visiting people in their homes and learning about their day-to-day lives. I devoured atlases, watched travel programmes and read travel books. So, when IACGMOOH appeared on screen I turned to the internet to find out the location of the camp. The t.v. discussion forum that I visited had a link to Google Earth, which I promptly downloaded and went exploring. From there I found the Google Earth Community Forum (now, sadly, retired - but that's another story!) and was hooked.

The trouble with Google Earth is that, when you first start using it, it's quite complicated. I wasn't sure if placemarks that I made showing my house, my mum & dad's house, my old schools etc, were going to be visible to everyone who looked on Google Earth (here after called "GE"). Some wonderful people helped me through the first few days until I gained some confidence and worked out what I was supposed to do. Then I discovered the Fun & Games Forum - a bit like a treasure hunt, someone would post a screenshot of a view on GE, and we had to find it and post our own screenshot of it. I was hopeless, I couldn't understand the clues but it looked such fun, I was desperate to join in. Again, some lovely people helped me and soon I was spending all my time on the GEC (Google Earth Community Forum).

Less than a year later I was asked to become a Moderator on the GEC. WOW, what a compliment. I was so thrilled and threw myself into the job. My "boss", Robin, was clear to tell me that this should be fun. That if it stopped being fun that I should take a break, which I did, several times over the following years, but generally it was fun, fun, fun. And I made lots of new friends, some that I've had the pleasure of meeting in person and some that I just meet across the keyboard.

In 2011 I started posting on the Google Earth Help Forum (now the Google Maps and Earth Help Forum) and was eventually invited to become a Top Contributor which I was honoured to accept.

My next post will explain why I spend so much time trying to help people on the Google help forums, rather than doing charity work for example - which is what I was told I should be doing instead!!