Is Yelp Obsolete?
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Yelp is a review site which was started in 2004 and currently has over 71 million monthly visitors. If you sell anything, or provide any kind of service, then you may have considered using this site for marketing purposes. Users who need a product can go to the site, search under your category and make their decision for what to buy based on the reviews they see there. It can be a very useful tool in expanding your social media presence.
At least it used to be.
Unfortunately, because of a past history that had no review moderation whatsoever, the backbiting and false reviews began to run rampant. Companies reported competitors leaving negative reviews of their products and services. Individuals began selling their reviews, offering good ones in exchange for payment. In fact, the bad reviews became so rampant that three separate lawsuits were filed accusing Yelp of extortion. Of course, all the lawsuits were later dismissed, as Yelp was shielded by the Consumer Decency Law, which is a law that states websites can not be held accountable for the things their users post.
Yelp Logo
On top of concerns over the legitimacy of reviews, users might be more hesitant to leave reviews over fear of retaliation. In fact, in a case in San Francisco in late 2009, a reviewer was actually confronted at his home by a bookstore owner whose business he’d given a poor review to. The bookstore owner was arrested and a restraining order was filed. In another incident, Jane Perez complained on the site about a company that she worked with for some home remodeling. Perez stated that Dietz Development damaged her property, trespassed and even accused workers of stealing her jewelry.
Of course, Yelp has taken steps to moderate their reviews and fight back.
Businesses are able to comment on reviews, which is a change they put in place last year. In addition, Yelp came up with a creative way to fight the businesses paying for reviews. If caught, the business runs the risk of having a banner plastered on their page that indicates that the company was caught buying fake reviews for the business. Even worse, by clicking on that banner, the user is then taken to a page that shows the proof.
Yelp Alert
A person who is in business would still do well to set themselves up with a Yelp account.
With over 70 million users per month, it is not a social media marketing venue that is wise to ignore. However, it’s important to stay proactive with your account and keep an eye out for torpedo reviews, which could be an attempt by your competitors to drive people away from your business. At the same time, it’s important to be ethical when using the site and avoid taking the low road as so many businesses have chosen to do. It is very likely that Yelp is going to implement more ways to stop the fake reviews and when that happens, you’ll want to be one of the stand out businesses that behaved ethically.