In Yelp I Trust, Do you?

I decided my comeback should be on something that I am passionate about. Can you guess what it is? YELP!

I have been a yelper for some time so I may be biased on the recent article that was displayed in the Washington Post, "Review site Yelp under fire in business' lawsuits." I know some businesses do risky things to make some cash but I would like to believe that Yelp wouldn't do that.

First of all, if you don't know what yelp is then...STOP LIVING UNDER CHEWBACCA! Yelp is a social networking site that let's consumers rate and review businesses. For example, you are looking for a good Thai restaurant near where you live but you don't have any friends that eat Thai food (or you don't have any friends). Who can you ask? There's Google for starters, but it only suggests places nearby. It doesn't tell you whether they are good, what dish is best, what kind of atmosphere the place is or how to woo the hot server on Tuesday nights. These are things you need to know!

Yelp provides this information. If you are still confused then you can check out my yelp reviews here.

Getting to the point, Yelp "is being sued by several small businesses that claim they've been pressured to advertise on the site in exchange for getting negative reviews squashed." What it seems to me is that companies are complaining about free speech. If this was someones personal blog and they had positive and negative reviews and some went missing then the companies wouldn't sue them! If your business sucks and you can't give good customer service then stop complaining. Maybe you should improve your business and then people wouldn't write anything negative. If I were the business then I would take it upon myself to read the reviews as constructive criticism. Make an account and offer the people that write negative reviews an incentive to come back after you fix the problem they are complaining about.

I think Jerry Stoppelman, Yelp co-founder and CEO said it best,

"the businesses suing the company don't understand how Yelp works. Some reviews might come and go because it relies on an automated program to weigh reviews and filter out ones that might be untrustworthy, such as a negative review a spa owner might write about a competitor. Yelp does nothing to manipulate reviews, aside from allowing advertisers to choose one review they would like to feature at the top of the page about their business...the automated filter has helped Yelp stay relevant to consumers, even though it frustrates some businesses."

Although, I'm starting to wonder if by chance this could have been a scam. If it was, then Yelp would have denied the accusations. Maybe Yelp is guilty but for now, I'm going to believe they are not. If it wasn't for yelp, I would not have found the gym that I love so dearly. I should write a review about my gym. To bad I can't write a review about the person talking real loud about their intimate relationship with their boyfriend in Starbucks.

What do you think about this Yelp dilemma? Do you trust them or not? Do you dare to Yelp? I dare you!

Is Blogging to die for?

For all you Mac users, I felt it was very important for me to share this link with you: "Secrets of the Mac trackpad." You can get a lot out of your trackpad, but you have to give it a chance to prove itself.

Getting to the news, a law may be passed shortly in Iran to give the death penalty to bloggers. I think that's a little harsh but it makes me proud to say that I am American and have the freedom to blog. Geek.com explains:

"The bill will make punishable by death, anybody that 'establishes websites and
weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy.' Apostasy is defined by
dictionary.com as 'a total desertion of or departure from one’s religion,
principles, party, cause, etc.' but in Iran it could have a wide-ranging net.
The government might simply use the bill at its discretion."

What I find interesting is that the Iran government tried to keep surveillance on bloggers a year ago by asking bloggers to register their sites with the government. Who would willingly register their blog when they know that if they do, they will most likely be put in jail or killed?

I think it's outrageous that they want to eliminate blogs. A blog is a freedom of speech in which people can discuss what matters to them. It can also be seen as a source of news. It has provided many companies a facet of communication that enables them to speak directly to consumers about issues or concerns they might have in real-time.

The next big search on Google will be how to hack the government's surveillance on my blog.

[Picture taken from Global Voices]