Yelp Needs a Dose of Fairness
Written by Jay Karen on March 13, 2009 – 8:24 pmRick Wolf of The B&B Team shared with me a recent NY Times article about the online review site, Yelp. Some innkeepers are beginning to see reviews of their properties on this site. From what I can tell, and what this article explains in more details, is that Yelp gives business owners little or no opportunities to defend themsevles against any reviews. They don’t even offer an opportunity for management responses! Read the article here.
The CEO of Yelp, Jeremy Stoppelman, says his top priority is “to make sure the community (of reviewers) is protected and can share without fear of being publicly spat on.” Here is where Mr. Stoppelman is off-base. Since reviewers are anonymous, there is no risk of being publicly spat on, because no one knows who the reviewers are. The business owners are the ones who bear 100% of the chance of being publicly spat on. This imbalance is a major, unfortunate flaw in such review sites.
Stoppleman even says, “Business owners want to control their reputation, and we’re just not going to let that happen.” All I can say in response is a dumbfounded, “wow.”
It’s days like today when I wish I could hop on a plane, fly to San Francisco and shake some sense into people like Mr. Stoppelman. At least TripAdvisor has been open to hearing my opinions and suggestions. It sounds like the folks at Yelp wouldn’t be so quick to accept my request for a meeting with their top brass.
Tags: Online Reviews, Reputation Management, TripAdvisor
Posted in Online Reviews, Reputation Management, TripAdvisor | 7 Comments »
Jay Karen, President & CEO of the
March 13, 2009 at 10:18 pm...
Hi Jay,
I was talking to Claire about businesses that write fake reviews, harass negative reviewers, etc. We’re not an anonymous review site, check out my profile for example… http://jeremy.yelp.com I use my real name and have a very detailed profile. So do all of our most involved users, the Yelp Elite Squad. What Yelp really is, is word-of-mouth online.
March 14, 2009 at 2:29 am...
Jeremy swooned “What Yelp really is, is word-of-mouth online.”
It could be that, if it weren’t full of posts by people looking to get even for perceived wrongs. We certianly wouldn’t want yelpers having to weigh the impact of what they might say beforehand, or have to read a management response. It might impinge upon their yelp-given right to write things like
“Let me start by saying I have never been here sober, nor before 1am, and I’d like to keep it that way.
Everything about this place would probably suck if I weren’t drunk and/or completely blazed. “
A nice informative review from some yelper.
We wouldn’t want Mr. Blazed to know that the restaurant he “reviewed” had to lay someone off because attendance was down because he was too stoned to know whether a place is good or bad. We wouldn’t want him to lose sleep over something as trivial as cause and effect.
March 14, 2009 at 2:47 pm...
Yelp also has a controversial way of handling reviews for paid advertisers. Here is an article from San Francisco: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20081117/NEWS/811170304/1036/NEWS07?Title=A_problem_with_pitch_.
Giving business owners no way to present the other side of the story is just wrong. Unfortunately, I feel I have to post this anonymously so that my business will not be adversely affected by negative yelp reviews.
March 14, 2009 at 6:51 pm...
Hey Jay,
Great dialogue created by your posting and glad you found the article interesting.
Found Jeremy’s comments interesting too. No one has any heartburn with comments/postings…pro or con…as long as they are legitmate and are a part of an open dialogue.
When someone posts a rant on Yelp…sure, it is word of mouth…but w-o-m has no more legitmacy without a dialogue than any bogus anonymous posting that may exist elsewhere.
Isn’t this all about transparency and a creating an honest dialogue? If not, seems like just a waste of bandwidth.
March 16, 2009 at 2:57 pm...
Jay wrote" Yes, you can determine if a review was left from the same IP address as where the business is located, but beyond that, it's tough to detect."
And in fairness that can't really be used for B&B's or hotels since it is entirely plausible that guests might be writing the review from the B&B's wireless connection which most of the time will show the same IP address as the owner.
By operating a review system where one side of the conversation is cut off (no owner responses) then you actually invite false reviews by forcing business owners to not operate in the light of day. By forcing them into hiding, you practically guarantee fiction.
March 16, 2009 at 2:04 pm...
Hi Jeremy,
Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog.
What percentage of Yelp reviews are written by Yelp Elite Squad members? I applaud those who choose to NOT be anonymous – you comfortably stand behind your reviews. That being said, are the majority of reviews on Yelp left by people who remain anonymous (meaning, they don’t give their first and last names)?
This is an issue of free speech vs. libel/defamation, and indeed free speech is winning the battle right now.
It just seems and feels as though there is no compassion or understanding for the businesses that are being reviewed. There is almost nothing you can do to prevent fake reviews – positive or negative – no matter how sophisticated your fraud detectors claim to be. Yes, you can determine if a review was left from the same IP address as where the business is located, but beyond that, it’s tough to detect.
What I haven’t heard from Yelp is a good, solid argument as to why you won’t let a business defend itself or tell it’s side of the story. A simple management response is all that is required. Extend the free speech opportunity to the business owners.
Jay
June 5, 2009 at 1:19 pm...
I totally agree with Swirt. We had an infortunate incident at the B&B (some money went missing from an unlocked suitcase). No way to know wether the money was there at the first place, and, if it was, who took it from the luggage: maids or another guest when the door was left open. Although we have questioned our personnel who forcefully denied the fact (first time there is something missing in 8 years), and our buying safes for all the rooms, our former guests have warned us that they will spread the word on the Internet. It will be very hard for us to refute their accusation.