What Would Yelp Be Without The Negativity? Recommendations Instead Of Reviews
from the nothing-nice-to-say dept
SF Weekly's 4,333 word exposition about Yelp delves into many of the recent foibles of the not-yet-profitable community site. Since its inception in 2004, Yelp has played a key part in imbuing every-day consumers with the powers of professional critics. Now, with consumer reviews posted and shared online, instead of disappearing into the black hole of the customer feedback box, businesses shudder with fear at the potential of a bad review on Yelp. Sure, any business that regularly provides bad service would eventually succumb to the collective ire of community displeasure, but anecdotally, Yelp seems to amplify this effect. Although consumer reviews have been around for ages on sites like Amazon and CNET, Yelp's focus on local businesses expose a vulnerability not really seen in, say, the consumer electronics or book industry. An evening's dining choice is relatively fickle compared to a decision to buy a plasma tv, and one can see how that decision could be easily derailed by one strategically placed negative review. That said, as consumers become more savvy to sites like Yelp, their tolerance for a bad review or two should hopefully build. Or, as seen in the recent case of a San Francisco pizzera, businesses could learn to embrace their bad reviews.Here's a thought. Whenever I visit a new city, I ask my friends for their recommendations, not reviews, of restaurants in the area. While it might be amusing to hear them rant about how awful such-and-such place was, ranting really does little good when trying to pick a place to eat out of the vast array of options that a typical city has to offer. Instead, maybe it's time for Yelp to put on the rose-colored glasses and offer an alternative view of the world: one where only recommendations exist. This is the approach taken by eats.it, a restaurant recommendation site that currently only serves San Diego. With no bad reviews to complain about, the complaint that a merchant doesn't get enough recommendations sounds much more like sour grapes. Furthermore, advertising on a page that features only recommendations of their establishment is a much more palatable proposition. Is the consumer less served by this rosy-eyed view of the world? Perhaps, but it would not be hard to see which establishments received less recommendations than others. Maybe mothers everywhere knew the answer all along when they advised: "if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all."
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: negativity, recommendations, reviews
Companies: yelp
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Frak?
"After eating their food, I spent quality time in their preternaturally clean bathrooms. 4 Stars! Would puke again!"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Two Different Cases
It may be that it would work equally well either way, but removing negative reviews seems like more of an acquiescence to incompetent businesses than a help to consumers. I would wager that any regular visitor to the site would catch on quite quickly that any single review, positive or negative, in pretty fickle.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ehm?
I went to a place I loved, put my review on yelp, and someone else hated it. They were like "WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT THIS PLACE SUCKS". I'd rather have both reviews there than just my shining review, it validates both better.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I want to go out for dinner - wait a minute, let me check this out with yelp first
Nope - I dont think so.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
So yeah, that's exactly how it works.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
For example I looked up a small mexican resturant in north san diego county. It had more positive reviews than negative, but i read several of each. The positive ones mostly said it was the best resturant ever. One of the negative reviews offered that the salsa they use is really good but the burritos aren't that great. After eating there (it's my girlfriends favorite place) I saw that the negative reviews were accurate. the burritos were OK, nothing I couldn't get anywhere else, but the salsa is in fact delicious.
The best reviews actually have something to say. Someone who says it is overall a bad experience might say the food was good but the resturant was too loud and too many people there just to drink. But if that's what you are looking for then you'll read it as positive.
Anyway, just my thoughts
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You actually take stock in reviews? Fools.
I stopped using reviews to sway my decision eons ago. I found that (and Harold's right on this one) if a customer dislikes the product/service, they'll write a damn book online.
If they like the product, they'll shill out more descriptions about the product, basically copying every other damn positive review.
Go view Amazon's review system for proof.
I've written a few reviews, but I try to convey a non-bias synopsis based on other matching genre. This gives people more of an idea of what to expect, not a "OMFG! BEST MOVE EVA! HAXXORS! :P :) YOU SHOUld buy THIS MOVIE!"
That's not a review. That's just stupidity.
Add in the fact there are stories of people being paid to write positive reviews, and this also makes them more useless.
Much like a feedback system which doesn't allow negatives when they're necessary.
Now, before anyone whines, yes, there are some good reviews out there. But those are generally the minority. How long does it take to sift through the crap to find them.
And Yelp? Never heard of it until today. This sounds like something my dog did. And given the article, sounds like Yelp is pretty much the same (assumption).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
In reply
To the poster: It's sort of a ridiculous idea to allow only positive reviews. This isn't your mothers kitchen where only nice things are allowed to be said. If a consumer looks at a location that has no "recommendations" they won't think that the place is awful, they'll simply think that no one who uses this review site has been there before. Blindly leading them into what could be an awful dining experience.
Also, Yelp! in specific is not about just restaurant reviews. It's about reviewing ALL local businesses. Have an automechanic that ripped you off, or took too long to fix your car, OR even worse left your car in worse shape than when they received it? You can write about it, warning other customers not to use this mechanic. The same goes with all sorts of other service industries. "I went to Dr. So-and-so and while they told me initially they accepted my insurance when it came time to pay they really gave me the run-around. Go somewhere else." The possibilities are endless and extremely useful if you use your resources and take what you read with a little perspective.
The site is young and still getting off the ground. I've only within the last few months become a participant and realize that it's going to take some time before a real perspective on certain businesses can be found there. In the meantime it's helped me discover some places that I never even knew where there thanks to reviews.
In other words, in a world where only recommendations are allowed I would NOT recommend anyone read your articles again.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I like negative reviews
I don't think the solution is to take away the negative. Restaurants need to learn that criticism is a good thing and that it won't end their business.
Also when I go to a town and ask friends for a recommendation...I actually do want to hear of the "place you shouldn't go." Generally I am wanting to hear the positive places, or their favorite place, but if they offer the place not to go I want to hear that as well.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Fundamental business model conflict
Second, negative reviews contain useful information. I'd generally like to know if you had a bad experience.
Powerful consumers and useful information are good things, but a conflict arises when Yelp's business model depends on sending invoices to the very businesses that Yelpers have opinions on. In this case, Yelp can either sell out the community and hide the negative reviews or stick to their "community first" mission and alienate a source of revenue. Either one of these is a critical problem.
This fundamental conflict makes pure "review" sites difficult to monetize. Looking back over the history of the Internet, what review sites were smashing successes?
Cnet and Epinions both de-emphasized their reviews and morphed into comparison shopping sites. Chowhound is a passionate community of diners but it generates no money from restaurants-- they have general banner ads sprinkled on their pages. Gizmodo? Engadget? General banner ads. ConsumerReports.org? The .org should tell you how they feel about profits. And let's not forget the 2007 fiasco at Gamespot where the conflict between editorial and sales caused them to fire a too-candid editor, leading to a round of employee resignations and a massive loss of credibility among gamers.
As Yelp grows, we'll see more examples of friction between their current business model and their community of reviewers. For example, here's a particularly well-written opinion of Yelp by a restaurant owner: Read the rest of this thoughtful screed here, and you can find more examples of this conflict on Consumerist.
As a group, local businesses face a Prisoner's Dilemma when dealing with Yelp. They would all be better served by bypassing the review site and developing direct and lasting relationships with their customers. But if the pizza place down the block is playing ball with Yelp, Dennis the Pizza Guy might be forced to do the same.
My apologies for the long comment. If you've made it this far, please email me for your valuable cash prize.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Nothing is perfect
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Loser Cranky Judge Who Denies My Anti-Slapp Motion
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Loser Cranky Judge Who Denies My Anti-Slapp Motion
I am curious on the reason the anti-slapp motion was denied in your case.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The one stars deserved their ratings far more than the five stars, I assure you.
I regularly got threats from other yelpers, but only once from a restaurant owner, who later lost his restaurant in a suspicious fire. Go figure.
I agree about recommendations instead of reviews, but if you omit all the negative reviews you would have a lot less reliability. There are many places that are beloved of the typical yelper, but which might not appeal to a reader. A few negative reviews can make a the overall rating more reliable.
And the "magic formula" to avoid a lawsuit...just liberally use the phrases "In my opinion" and "I believe" and end by saying something like "others may differ but this is my personal opinion."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
People in over seas pull down dictators by putting their lives on the line, why can't we have an organized demonstration to bring light and attention to this?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]