I Don’t Believe In Yelp!

If you live in one of multiple American metropolitan areas, you are likely familiar with Yelp! The concept is pretty simple in that you log in, create your profile, and begin reviewing business establishments. Their mainstay is restaurants. In the case of Los Angeles, there are a whole gambit of places to eat - so I think it’s safe to say that I live in the center of one of Yelp!’s target demos. In a place where you never run out of places to eat, you will certainly run across some pretty shoddy food and/or service once in awhile.

So then, you’d think that it follows that hip Angelenos who want good recommendations on where to eat and where to avoid might thank their lucky stars that there’s Yelp! to help them figure that out.

A little over a year ago was when I really heard about it blowing up. It was also when I first created my profile. I have probably reviewed random places I’ve eaten 11 times since then, which is certainly no match to really active Yelp! users. I see there are “elite” members in that they have written over a certain number of reviews (100, I believe).

So then, you’d think that it follows that these elite reviewers really know what they’re talking about since they’re pros at writing reviews on the internet.

Just wait a minute.