I'm no stranger to writing a blog. When I worked at a church I wrote many posts over several years having fun with serious topics. This may be a new blog, but not my first rodeo.
Yelp. What a fun topic to tackle. Did you know the name comes from the phrase "you can help", and they shortened it to one cute word. Yelp. Can you see what I did there? Because this is on the internet it must be true, right? Or did I totally make up that origin of Yelp?
And that's pretty much how it works. Ordinary people take on the role of food critics and write stuff on the internet that you must believe. Yes, I know Yelp is about all businesses and not just restaurants but let's all agree that most people read and write about restaurants on Yelp.
Despite the fact that you can buy positive reviews on eBay, and there are marketing companies dedicated to "improving" your rating, Yelp maintains that their software somehow secures the integrity of the reviews. Real people writing real reviews.
How does that software know which reviews are fake and which are real? According to Yelp employees nobody knows how that works because if they did, people would figure out how to break in and write bad reviews. Banks and credit card companies could use software like that, right? Yelp should share their hack-proof software with the government, or sell it for millions.
Anyway, what happens when you give ordinary people the power to destroy a business' credibility using negative comments that go undisputed? Sure a business can reply to the comments, but most of the time the owners just look like they are making up excuses for the obvious truthful rants of the customer. The customer is always right, remember that?
I have often wondered what those same individuals would say if a business were allowed to post their picture and review them as a customer. After a few negative reviews from local restaurants, that person is not welcome when they go out to eat. But in America you can bet a good attorney will help them take down their picture from the review site for privacy issues and get their name added to the "don't review me" list. After all, they're normally a good customer. Today was just an off day. It's not fair for you to review my behavior as bad when normally I am a good tipper. I just didn't have my wallet with me today.
Yelp has created a network of "foodies" and has given them a forum to become mystery diners and published food critics. Seems to me life was easier when people would just complain to the manager if they weren't happy.
Yelp. What a fun topic to tackle. Did you know the name comes from the phrase "you can help", and they shortened it to one cute word. Yelp. Can you see what I did there? Because this is on the internet it must be true, right? Or did I totally make up that origin of Yelp?
And that's pretty much how it works. Ordinary people take on the role of food critics and write stuff on the internet that you must believe. Yes, I know Yelp is about all businesses and not just restaurants but let's all agree that most people read and write about restaurants on Yelp.
Despite the fact that you can buy positive reviews on eBay, and there are marketing companies dedicated to "improving" your rating, Yelp maintains that their software somehow secures the integrity of the reviews. Real people writing real reviews.
How does that software know which reviews are fake and which are real? According to Yelp employees nobody knows how that works because if they did, people would figure out how to break in and write bad reviews. Banks and credit card companies could use software like that, right? Yelp should share their hack-proof software with the government, or sell it for millions.
Anyway, what happens when you give ordinary people the power to destroy a business' credibility using negative comments that go undisputed? Sure a business can reply to the comments, but most of the time the owners just look like they are making up excuses for the obvious truthful rants of the customer. The customer is always right, remember that?
I have often wondered what those same individuals would say if a business were allowed to post their picture and review them as a customer. After a few negative reviews from local restaurants, that person is not welcome when they go out to eat. But in America you can bet a good attorney will help them take down their picture from the review site for privacy issues and get their name added to the "don't review me" list. After all, they're normally a good customer. Today was just an off day. It's not fair for you to review my behavior as bad when normally I am a good tipper. I just didn't have my wallet with me today.
Yelp has created a network of "foodies" and has given them a forum to become mystery diners and published food critics. Seems to me life was easier when people would just complain to the manager if they weren't happy.
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