Google Maps: Users Will Now Have Their Own Profiles, and Can Follow Each Other

According to Google, more than one billion individuals use Maps to navigate and explore the world. The Google Maps application has evolved from being just a simple navigation tool to a social network. The application offers several features such as offering business info as well as personalized recommendations. Last year, the company experimented with allowing people to follow pre-selected Local Guides. Now, it seems that the company is expanding this program to include all users of the Maps app. This means that Google is turning Maps into a social media network.

The service now allows all users to follow each other on the application, and those who have shared images, lists, or reviews on the app will have their own profiles on the app. With the recent upgrade, the updated profile pages look like a Facebook or Instagram pages, and the profiles feature a Follow button. After you have followed a user on Google Maps, you will receive all the latest updates from that user, and the updates will appear on the Updates tab of the Maps application. Today, the company has begun rolling out the new feature to all users across the globe.

On Thursday, the company announced this update via a blog post. The updated profiles show an image of the user, and you can also write a short tagline that will appear below your profile image. The profile also displays how many users follow you on Maps, and how many profiles you are following. You will also see lists of the number of recommendations a user has made.

Some users might want to keep their city’s hidden gems to themselves, they can also make their profile restricted. This feature allows users to manually approve those who request to follow them on Google Maps. Along with the new feature that allows you to follow users on Maps, the company is also introducing new topic filters on these updated profile pages. The topic filters display the places people share about often.

Under the heads of different topic filters, Maps provides all related suggestions from finding the perfect café to exploring hidden gems in a city. While some don’t want to use this feature, it would be a cool thing for you if you live in a bigger city with Local Guides who post about all the new cool places consistently.



Read next: What Are The World's Most Visited Websites? - Data Backed Insights!