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| Yelp or Nope? |
This day and age it can be hard to find a good restaurant to choose from, especially when you are one of the millions of people who do "research" before making that choice. Yelp has become the headstone for many small businesses, but is it really fair? How can we tell if a review is fake? How can we tell a bad review really isn't a competitor, a disgruntled employee or just a bad person who happened to be a customer? Should reviews tipped too much to the left or to the right be considered at all?
Some people say that Yelp is just a place for people to complain, but according to Yelp's VP of Corporate Communications 80% of reviews are 3 stars or more. Do you believe it? That's like a prison giving a percentage of prisoners who are really guilty. How accurate is that statement? Should there be an independent study on that claim? Yelp has it's own filtering program that hides reviews they feel are not legitimate.
In addition, Yelp has been accused of extorting businesses by offering advertisement packages for higher rankings and less filtering.
So why pick on Yelp? Why are they being singled out? There are plenty of other reviews being shown from other sites like Google for example. True, but they are filtering their own reviews. Putting their hand in reviews and cherry picking is what is putting them under the microscope.
Aside from the accusations made, we must also consider the actual people writing the reviews. All of us can agree that there are some pretty stupid people out there. On the same token, there are some very bad people out there. With that said, do you take reviews for what they are? Or do you take a chance for yourself?
ABC news has already exposed people who will write a business review for cash, but what about the real people? What about the cases where there is no inside job? The small businesses that are failing miserably. How can we tell if a warning sign is legitimate? With people opening a Yelp account just for one review, it makes it much harder to identify.
So are you a Yelper? Are you an avid reviewer of things you eat, buy or experience? Maybe your a business owner who has felt the impact reviews have had on your business? What side are you on? Sound off in the comments below.
In addition, Yelp has been accused of extorting businesses by offering advertisement packages for higher rankings and less filtering.
So why pick on Yelp? Why are they being singled out? There are plenty of other reviews being shown from other sites like Google for example. True, but they are filtering their own reviews. Putting their hand in reviews and cherry picking is what is putting them under the microscope.
Aside from the accusations made, we must also consider the actual people writing the reviews. All of us can agree that there are some pretty stupid people out there. On the same token, there are some very bad people out there. With that said, do you take reviews for what they are? Or do you take a chance for yourself?
ABC news has already exposed people who will write a business review for cash, but what about the real people? What about the cases where there is no inside job? The small businesses that are failing miserably. How can we tell if a warning sign is legitimate? With people opening a Yelp account just for one review, it makes it much harder to identify.
So are you a Yelper? Are you an avid reviewer of things you eat, buy or experience? Maybe your a business owner who has felt the impact reviews have had on your business? What side are you on? Sound off in the comments below.