{"id":1513,"date":"2021-05-15T12:51:37","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T10:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/15\/my-pandemic-comfort-google-reviews-they-can-be-as-compelling-as-any-tv-drama-louise-benson\/"},"modified":"2021-05-15T12:51:37","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T10:51:37","slug":"my-pandemic-comfort-google-reviews-they-can-be-as-compelling-as-any-tv-drama-louise-benson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/15\/my-pandemic-comfort-google-reviews-they-can-be-as-compelling-as-any-tv-drama-louise-benson\/","title":{"rendered":"My pandemic comfort? Google reviews. They can be as compelling as any TV drama | Louise Benson"},"content":{"rendered":"

The comments aren\u2019t just transactional \u2013 they can reveal more about how we connect than the curated feeds of social media<\/p>\n

Human connection can often be found where you least expect it. Google Maps, started as a straightforward navigation tool<\/a>, has become in recent years an unlikely treasure trove of humour and intrigue. With many businesses in my area closed for much of the pandemic, I took to exploring them through the reviews that others had left online. I have traversed foreign cities from my sofa, idly dreaming of future holidays via a one-line description of the perfect snack bar.<\/p>\n

From reviews of a local bistro to the dry cleaner, I have stumbled on snatches of city life that seem as compelling as any sitcom. Entire sagas are played out in a few sentences, and I have read elaborate tales of love, fights, breakups and makeups. \u201cThe owners created a drama around them, and chose us to express all their violence,\u201d begins one particularly ominous review of a bar, which ends with: \u201cWe spent the night in hospital and my friend had to get surgery to fix his nose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nThe comments aren\u2019t just transactional \u2013 they can reveal more about how we connect than the curated feeds of social media
\nHuman connection can often be found where you least expect it. Google Maps, started as a straightforward navigation tool, has become in recent years an unlikely treasure trove of humour and intrigue. With many businesses in my area closed for much of the pandemic, I took to exploring them through the reviews that others had left online. I have traversed foreign cities from my sofa, idly dreaming of future holidays via a one-line description of the perfect snack bar.
\nFrom reviews of a local bistro to the dry cleaner, I have stumbled on snatches of city life that seem as compelling as any sitcom. Entire sagas are played out in a few sentences, and I have read elaborate tales of love, fights, breakups and makeups. \u201cThe owners created a drama around them, and chose us to express all their violence,\u201d begins one particularly ominous review of a bar, which ends with: \u201cWe spent the night in hospital and my friend had to get surgery to fix his nose.\u201d Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The comments aren\u2019t just transactional \u2013 they can reveal more about how we connect than the curated feeds of social media Human connection can often be found where you least expect it. Google Maps, started as a straightforward navigation tool, has become in recent years an unlikely treasure trove of humour and intrigue. With many …<\/p>\n

My pandemic comfort? Google reviews. They can be as compelling as any TV drama | Louise Benson<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}