Wayfarer Ambassador Program 2023 - Discussion
NianticTintino
Posts: 876Niantic › admin
Hello Explorers,
The application for the Wayfarer Ambassador Program 2023 has shipped! I’m super excited to launch the second year of our Ambassador Program Application alongside our current Ambassadors who have provided tons of insight and feedback that’ll shape this new year of the program for the better. Do you want to be a part of the ongoing growth of our community? Do you want to be an advocate for your community locally and globally? If so, the Ambassador program might be for you!
What is it?
The Community Ambassadors program is for a group of Wayfarer Explorers who believe in Niantic Wayfarer and are active participants in the official Wayfarer Community. They’re passionate about exploration, excited to engage with other Explorers, and share Explorer best practices (nominations, reviewing, edits, etc). The Community Ambassadors support the Wayfarer Community’s Mission and Vision by collaborating with the Community Manager and representing the voice of the community. All Wayfarer Ambassadors embody the following in their participation:
- Driven by Wayfarer’s Mission
- Lead by Example
- Respectful Towards Community Members
- Knowledgeable about Wayfarer
- Curiosity to Explore
Who is eligible to be a Wayfarer Ambassador?
Any Explorer (18 years or older) that has demonstrated a strong commitment to Wayfarer, the Wayfarer Community, or the Niantic Mission and has a strong understanding of our product. Lastly, applicants must have a Wayfarer rating of at least Good.
What’s the time commitment?
Being a Wayfarer Ambassador is completely voluntary. While there are no set time commitments, actively participating and engaging with other Ambassadors to provide feedback to the Wayfarer team is how you can make a real impact on the Community’s Wayfarer experience. Participation can look differently from week to week. Active participation can look like joining group meetings, providing insights from the community, helping to clarify community concerns, etc.
Term Length
If selected to be an Ambassador, your term will extend for the calendar year for which you were selected with the potential for an invitation on an advisory role to the new cohort after yours. Regardless of when you start, there will be a new cohort of Ambassadors at the beginning of the new calendar year. This is meant to maintain a healthy amount of diversity and creativity.
Selection Criteria
The Ambassadors are chosen for their diverse representation of the Explorer Community. Explorer levels within Niantic products have limited impact on the selection process. Selection criteria does not require Explorers to be considered community leaders, although we recognize that some may be viewed as such already.
Explorers will be selected to become Ambassadors primarily based on their geographic location, knowledge of Wayfarer (both experts and novices), historical Wayfarer Community engagement, Niantic’s Mission, and their responses to the application questions. The ability to read, write, and communicate verbally in English is a requirement as the key updates and feedback requests will be in English.
Why would I want to become a Wayfarer Ambassador?
Becoming a Wayfarer Ambassador comes with its perks! You’ll have the opportunity to
- Pilot some of our upcoming features and Niantic Products before anyone else
- Provide feedback on features, updates, and events to ensure they’re loved by Explorers
- Aid in making our community safe, welcoming, and FUN
- Community Voice - share your ideas and that of the community with the Wayfarer Team
- And of course, SWAG!
Ambassadors Relationship with Niantic
To participate in the Ambassador program, Explorers will have to agree to and sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Violating the NDA may result in immediate removal from the program, legal action against the person, and the termination of the person’s Wayfarer and all other Niantic game accounts.
What are the limitations of an Ambassador?
Ambassadors are Explorer community members who volunteer to represent and advocate for other Explorers for the purpose of enhancing the overall Explorer experience. They are not Niantic employees and do not represent Niantic. They do not have access to Niantic systems, including personally identifiable information. They are not authorized to make any decisions related to Niantic or its games, including but not limited to help center tickets, nominations, appeals, or account bans.
Where and When can I apply?
Applications are open NOW and will remain open until the end of the day (11:59pm PST) on 02/12/2023. Application can be found HERE.
Check out the application and original post for more information and feel free to ask questions below.
Comments
Done
@NianticTintino-ING thank you, hopefully someone from our German community will be brave enough to apply this year around.
I agree! Keeping my fingers crossed.
When is the announcement of the new folks expected? I would think a few weeks after?
You applying? Rather than speaking into their zoom calls 🤣🤣🤣
Sneaking, not speaking ..... although you might also do that
And how many would you choose this year? We are still missing the last Ambassador from last year, you remember? @NianticTintino-ING
I don’t see anything about the type of gifs you may post🤔 or is that not a criteria.
PS I never get used to the month/day layout as at first I thought it was being very generous in giving people until December 😂
@NianticTintino-ING
There is nothing wrong with electing new ambassadors.
But first, you need to summarize and report to all Wayfinder how often you have met and what results you have achieved in the last year.
Of course, the NDA part should be hidden, but not everything is NDA, so you should disclose the information that needs to be disclosed.
We are not children, so what we are looking for are results, and the kind of results we get will determine whether it is worth applying for this Ambassador Program or not.
Yup! Hoping to have them all selected and announce it by the end of the month.
Unfortunately that 12th member from last year will not be back filled in 2023 😅😰
Applied! Let's see how it will go, hopefully my language knowledge can help 😆
Woot Woot! I see your application came through!
communication to the ambassadors is open... you can ask them yourself
Is that so?
If I knew the ambassadors personally, I would ask them, but I don't like asking for details from people I've never met.
You may be okay with it, but I think most people don't like to be asked for details by someone they don't know.
Also, the Wayfarer team has clarified that the ambassador will not be held accountable.
In this case, the administrator should report the results regularly.
It seems to me that shortly after the Ambassador program started last spring, reports were still being made.
But then, around the time some of the Niantic staff were laid off, we stopped seeing such activity.
And around the time Giffard stopped showing up toward the end of the summer, it appears to have come to a complete halt.
Also, the Wayfarer team no longer seems to attend Niantic Community Day or PGO Fest to interact with Wayfinder.
Well, maybe it's because Niantic Community Day, a program of events designed to remove the boundaries between games and promote general interaction, is no longer in existence, but it seems to me that they have disappeared since the fall.
At least it does not appear to me that the present administrators are reporting back on the success of the Ambassador program.
Thats what ambassadors are, a gateway between the community and Niantic. You shouldn't think they feel bad about being asked questions. But if you don't feel confortable being asked questions from people you dont know, then maybe that answers your question about applying.
Understandable, now to the next question...
Can you please elaborate with your statement in this conversation below?
In the past I would have liked to become an ambassador, but with a community leader like @NianticTintino-ING, who keeps making empty promises and doesn't keep them, I don't see the point anymore.
Communication between him and the community is zero and he only responds when he feels like it. I would like to say that it was slowly decreasing, but unfortunately it was like that from the beginning. He can only write such announcements, but that's all.
I haven't noticed any visibly positive change since the first Ambassadors joined.
What I did notice, on the other hand, was that our problems weren't taken care of, Reports in the forum now takes months and you have to ping a moderator again and again so that something finally happens!
Appeals also take ages and are decided with a coin toss, since your own employees seem to have no idea about the criteria and accept a bunch of rubbish themselves.
It's sad to see how the community knows more about Wayfarer and the system behind it than those who are paid for it and whose job it is.
And about the ambassadors: That they are chosen based on their location instead of how much knowledge and understanding they have is pretty random!
Oh my no. If I speak they’ll realise I’m there, I just change my name to
“Danbocat Mobile”“NianticOren Mobile” and turn off my camera.Working on the assumption that Tintino has found it useful as they are continuing with ambassadors, could any of the current ambassadors give a short answer as to if they would recommend applying.
I think it would be useful for anyone considering applying.
I mean, @NianticAtlas joked that this one doomed me last time…
Unfortunately, looking at his Ingress account, his OPR Agreements are only 59.
I counted up 9 in the last month.
Well, there are administrators like Casey who have successfully managed this forum with little or no Wayfarer experience, so in general, agreements don't represent everything.
However, the recent decline in the quality of wayspot seems to indicate that lack of knowledge is a contributing factor.
A question for those looking at applying, or thinking they won’t, is there anyone you’d like to see apply/be made an Ambassador?
I’ll put forth two people. I disagree with both of them from time to time (as they do with me too), but equally they make great points and their frustrations with the system would help to get things changed for the better if communicated in the right way.
Please step forward @SeaprincessHNB-PGO & @The26thDoctor-PGO
Aww shucks.
Thank you. I accept. (Your Nixonbucks are in the mail...)
Thanks, I think my snark would get the better of me though :D
For good ambassadors though.
I like @29andCounting-PGO 's ability to speak their mind even when it goes against the grain.
@kawin240-ING's knowledge definitely wouldn't go amiss.
Both are smart enough to be ambassadors.
There's easily a load of people I see posting here regularly who are insightful, patient, knowledgeable etc who would be great ambassadors.
I won't name them though incase they are thinking I don't want to be involved in that madness.
Ambassadors hey? More like adversaries.
Niantic Ambassadorship is just like being told you're a VIP guest at the Titanic, everything looks like fun and games within until one hits the iceberg of reality: the company's grip (or lackthereof) on economic success and proper management. And with giant tech layoffs everywhere in the industry and the looming downturn, it won't be long until Niantic decides to instead follow the carrot on a stick known as the AI-powered AR development space, and cut a further 6% of people from their company.
Wayfarer should be AI-propelled anyway, so trying to bolster labour numbers and representatives to "increase velocity" is prehistoric and useless. Adding yet another 12 is just adding to the noise without promoting further understanding.
Just remember, the only "SWAG" people ever got were for visiting the Wayfarer booths in selected cities during GoFest and occasional community events, except GoFest Japan because they screwed up. No ambassador ever got swag for being a part of such in the last year. Don't fall for such a ruse.
I will watch from afar to see the new cohort do nothing.
Interesting to see this program is being continued.
It would be great to have a post about highlighting what this program brought Niantic/players in the past period.
As people might be more inclined to join if they see there is a good impact because of their contributions.
The whole show should be run by the community itself.
@Johnhanke999-PGO@JohnHanke could save a buck here and there. After all this here isn't rocket science, if the process is set up properly (that isn't the case, and we have to deal with broken wayfarer since many years)
I think the right tag is @ace-ING ? Not that I think they frequent the forums.