Here My Story
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A map of every place you've reviewed, with your take on each

Here My Story is a free personal memory map. For people who review restaurants and places, it becomes one link: a map of everywhere you've been, with your write-up, photos and the date on each pin, which followers open in any browser with no app.

Updated

Why give your followers a map?

Because social media is where people now look for somewhere to eat, and a post is a poor place to keep an address.

  • In July 2022 a Google senior vice president, Prabhakar Raghavan, said: "something like almost 40% of young people, when they're looking for a place for lunch, they don't go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram."
  • In SOCi's 2024 survey of 1,002 US consumers, more 18-to-24-year-olds had used Instagram (67%) and TikTok (62%) to look up local businesses in the past month than had used Google Search (61%).
  • In a survey of 1,142 US TikTok users by the restaurant marketing agency MGH, 58% said they had visited a restaurant after seeing it on TikTok, up from 38% in 2022.

A recommendation works. Then it sinks down the feed, and the questions start: where was that, what did you order, is it still good? A map answers the first for good. A story on each pin answers the rest.

What does a follower see?

One link, which opens in whatever browser they have. There is no app to install and no account to make.

  • Your map, with a pin on every place.
  • Your take on each one: as much writing as you like, up to ten photos, and the date you went.
  • A journal view, the same places listed by year, newest first.
  • A preview card when the link is shared in a chat or a post, showing your name, your picture and how many stories are on the map.
Thursday lunch, counter seat. The al pastor is the one everyone posts. The suadero is the one to order. Two tacos and an agua fresca came to $11. Cash only, and the line moves faster than it looks.
Example pin: a taco stand, with the date of the visit

The date matters more than it sounds. Kitchens change, and a reader can see at a glance whether your recommendation is from last month or from three years ago.

What do you get back?

  • Followers you can reach by email. Anyone with a free account can follow your map. When you add places, they get an email digest, weekly unless they choose daily or switch it off.
  • Numbers. The account menu shows your follower count, how many times your stories have been viewed in total and in the last seven days, and which stories are viewed most.
  • Control. Only you can change your map, and you can take it private again whenever you like.

How do tips that unlock on location work?

Any story can be marked "Only readable at this place." Your followers see a locked pin on the map. The story opens only when their phone shows they are within about 200 meters (650 feet) of it. How location-locked stories work.

It lets you keep something back for the people who actually go.

  • The order. The public story says why the place is worth the trip. The locked one says what to get and what to skip.
  • The inside tip. The table to ask for, the off-menu dish, the time the bread comes out.
  • A food crawl. Five stops in one neighborhood, a locked tip at each, walked in an afternoon.
  • A hunt. Locked stories across a city for followers to collect.
You made it. Ask for the salsa macha they keep behind the counter, and sit at the far end, where you can watch the trompo.
Example of a tip left to be read at the place

There is good evidence that people enjoy having to turn up. Tourism bureaus have run the paper version for years: Butler County, Ohio credits its Donut Trail, a passport stamped at twelve shops, with more than $6 million in local economic impact since 2016, and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail recorded 2.7 million distillery visits in 2024. Geocaching counts more than 3.4 million active caches worldwide.

Two honest limits. The lock relies on the location a reader's own phone reports, which a determined person can fake, so treat it as a game and not as proof. And the view count on a locked story is a rough signal of how many people opened it at the place. It is a total, with no names attached.

How do you set one up?

  1. Make a free account at app.heremystory.com and choose a public map when it asks who can see it.
  2. Add your name and picture. They appear on your map and on its preview card.
  3. Pin your ten best places first. Choose "Add a story" and move the map until the pin sits on the door.
  4. Write your take, add photos, and set the date you went.
  5. Lock one or two tips to their places.
  6. Copy the link from "Share map" and put it in your bio.
  7. Mention the map when you post about a place, and add the pin the same day.

Each account has one map. If you cover two cities and want them kept apart, make an account for each with a different email address.

What should a review on a map say?

What a friend would want to know before going.

  • What you ordered, and what you would order next time
  • What it cost
  • When to go, and whether you need to book
  • Who it suits: a date, a group, a parent with a stroller
  • The one thing that would stop you going back

Readers trust this kind of detail. In BrightLocal's 2026 survey of 1,002 US adults, 97% said they read reviews of local businesses, and 49% said they trust online reviews about as much as a personal recommendation.

What are the rules on free meals and sponsored posts?

If you were given something, say so, in the story itself and near the top. The US Federal Trade Commission's guidance for reviewers is direct: "If you get free meals from a restaurant that you review, you should let your readers know so they can weigh that factor for themselves." Its guide for influencers adds that the disclosure is your responsibility and should use "simple and clear language."

Since October 2024 an FTC rule has also banned fake reviews and testimonials, including buying or selling them and paying for reviews on condition that they are positive. In the United Kingdom, the advertising regulator expects paid or gifted content to be labeled plainly as an ad, and says words like "gifted" are unlikely to be enough.

This is general information, not legal advice.

Can you say a place was bad?

Yes, if it is your honest opinion of what you experienced. In US law, defamation requires a false statement presented as fact, and statements of pure opinion are generally protected. "The fish was overcooked when I went" is an opinion from experience. "The kitchen is infested" is a claim of fact that you would need to be able to prove. Describe what happened to you, on the day you went, and leave accusations out.

Two smaller points. Photographs you take are yours from the moment you take them. A restaurant is private property, and the owner can set rules about photography inside it.

What does it not do?

Here My Story is a small tool, and a creator will notice what is missing: there are no star ratings, tags, filters or search, no directions or booking links, no way to charge for a map, and one map per account. Google Maps lists, Beli, Mapstr and the paid-guide apps each do some of those better. See how the options compare.

Common questions

How do I make a map of all the restaurants I've reviewed?

Make a free Here My Story account with a public map, add a pin for each restaurant with your write-up, photos and the date you went, and share the map's link. It opens in any browser, so followers need no app.

Can I see how many people read each review?

Yes. The account menu shows total views, views in the last seven days, your most viewed stories and your follower count. It shows totals only, not who read what.

Can I charge for my map or add affiliate links?

No. A map is free to make and free to read, and web addresses in a story are plain text. If you want to sell a guide, a tool such as Rexby is built for that.

Can I use it for a sponsored food crawl?

Yes. Pin each stop, lock a tip to each one so it opens only on location, and say in every story that the crawl is sponsored. The view counts give you a rough measure of how many people took part.

Does my map show where I am?

No. It shows the places you chose to pin, not your current location. For safety, add a pin after you have left a place, and leave your home off a public map.

Sources

  1. TechCrunch, July 12, 2022: Google exec suggests Instagram and TikTok are eating into Google's core products, Search and Maps.
  2. SOCi, Consumer Behavior Index 2024 (1,002 US consumers).
  3. MGH, TikTok drives restaurant sales (1,142 US TikTok users, surveyed November 2024). MGH is a restaurant marketing agency.
  4. BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adults).
  5. Federal Trade Commission, FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking, and Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers.
  6. Federal Trade Commission, August 14, 2024: Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials.
  7. Advertising Standards Authority (UK), Recognising ads: social media and influencer marketing.
  8. Butler County, Ohio tourism bureau, January 9, 2025: Donut Trail economic impact (the bureau's own estimate).
  9. Kentucky Distillers' Association, April 2, 2025: Bourbon tourism growth continues.
  10. Geocaching, Fast facts.
  11. Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute, Defamation; US Copyright Office, Photographers.