Yelping at Yelp!

This article isn't exactly new, but it's worth looking at Yelp! again. Business owners get bent out of shape about negative reviews. I choose to look at a negative comment as a chance to communicate with the customer. Just responding to someone's concern can be very powerful. The trick is to detach your ego from the response. Their comments usually reflect more on them than you.

Yelp! What happens when an online review site itself becomes the subject of harsh public scrutiny? Such is the case of Yelp, the review site that carries the motto, “Real People. Real reviews.” In recent weeks, Yelp has been hit with three class-action lawsuits from businesses claiming that Yelp sales representatives tried to press the businesses into advertising by offering — or threatening — to manipulate reviews. Jeremy Stoppelman, a Yelp co-founder and its chief executive, has seen the tables of Web 2.0 turned against his company as angry business owners have taken to Internet boards to pan Yelp. A condensed version of a conversation with Mr. Stoppelman follows.