As any of my closest twitter followers know, I’ve recently rediscovered Yelp after several months of a decided ban. As a community purist, I was horrified to find out that certain Yelp users were paid to stimulate activity and engagement on Yelp. The problem wasn’t the payment, but the simple fact that the paid users seemed to blend in with the non-paid users, ultimately creating a community that lacked transparency and an experience that you couldn’t trust to be authentic. There were several friend requests and compliments that made me question whether or not they were legitimate or just masked attempts at getting me psyched about participating on Yelp. Excerpts like the one below, taken from a December ’06 businessweek.com article, really got under my skin. I felt violated and fake friended.
Attracting Users Here’s how it works: To help get established in a new locale, Yelp recruits paid “marketing assistants,” to promote the site not only through everyday interaction, but also by kicking off online discussions and adding comments to other people’s reviews to encourage reviewers to keep up the good work. Essentially, they help make Yelp appear to be a vibrant and outgoing community in hopes that it will actually become one. In some cities, higher-level community managers handle some of those same tasks, but also coordinate social events.
 |
So I left.
But then I came back.
Upon returning back to San Diego, I was introduced to some pretty cool Yelpers so I decided to give the site a second chance. I was pleasantly surprised by my findings. While I was gone the Yelp community flourished in a plethora of ways. There are countless reviews on all types of businesses (including gyms, salons, ballparks), and so far when I’ve put my trust in the Yelp community they haven’t let me down. There’s also forum-like talk threads, events listings, great ways to rate content, and some of the best content relevant to my local needs. Facebook is fine and dandy and has some great (and not so great) groups, Twitter is quick and dirty, but Yelp is so me.
In doing a little research for this post I wanted to find some credible sources about the previous Yelp scandal (see above), but in the process found this blog post about a coffee house in Oakland that had been getting some pretty bad reviews on Yelp. In retaliation (and what else can you really call juvenile behavior) the business posted the ostensibly offensive sign seen below that reads ‘NO YELPERS!!’
What I was told, in a nutshell, is that the café staff has encountered a stream of would-be critics “with attitude,” predisposed to take issue with or be critical of the business. Whether or not this is a correct perception, there are many more outlets (Yelp being only one) for customers and consumers to voice opinions about businesses on the Internet. And there’s little most of these businesses can do about it, for better or for worse.
 |
The blog post discusses the darker side of user generated content and the potentially harmful effects of Yelp on businesses (although currently Rooz has 4 out of 5 stars).
I’m not sure what business in their right mind would react to negative criticism by attempting to ban (with a sign no less) anyone who might have a negative opinion about their business. Yelpers aren’t the problem. Yelp just happens to be a great platform to express malcontent, but it’s certainly not the only web-based mechanism for doing so. The problem is with the business that isn’t ready to hear or confront the negative.
Being in business today means always having one ear listening to what people are saying about your business. Being a good business today means taking the opportunity to use negative criticism as a chance to reflect on ways to improve, and to embrace the naysayers and turn them into company advocates.
Yelp back.
Browse Timeline
-
http://lingery-babes.somefake.nx.cn/ villiam
