Until now Google allowed the "community" (competitors, disgruntled former employees, etc.) to edit your location or object to information, and they would automatically process the changes. No more! Now community edits will be manually reviewed before being published (hooray!).
As the article points out, this was first pointed out (though pretty much received by Google with an arrogant sniff, deferring to the "wisdom" of the community) by a provocative use by SEO expert Danny Sullivan, who used the "feature" to alter Microsoft's name and business description.
Article at http://searchengineland.com/google-maps-ends-community-editing-42910
As the article points out, this was first pointed out (though pretty much received by Google with an arrogant sniff, deferring to the "wisdom" of the community) by a provocative use by SEO expert Danny Sullivan, who used the "feature" to alter Microsoft's name and business description.
Article at http://searchengineland.com/google-maps-ends-community-editing-42910