Sep 12, 2014

Yelp Changes

Speaking of food, Yelp, the site millions go to for reviews of local eating establishments may be changing, and not for the better. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, said that review site Yelp could manipulate its ratings for money.

So, if a small diner makes a big ad buy on the site, those extra dollars could possibly boost the diner's rating, thus potentially gaining it more customers.

Yelp says that it does not manipulate ratings, despite longtime accusations from business owners. It says it uses an automated process for star ratings on the site. There is no reason to believe that the company is or will be 100 percent fair about business ratings and placement just because it seems like the right thing to do. Take your Yelp reviews with a grain of salt from now on, as you should have been doing all along.

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