Why you *might* trust Yelp again. Ethics, conversation, & the future of social media

The yelp post garnered 5 times as many views as anything I have ever posted, and stimulated a lot of interesting conversation on multiple outlets.  This is a follow up, clarifying a lot of stuff… might be too long, but I will let it stand.  Thanks for the dialogue, comments, emails, etc.  Be Well!

I have apologized for long posts before.. but this is ridiculous.  Actually.. if you need to blame anyone for length, chat with the thoughtful Jeff at https://www.IwantMoreFood.com.  He asked some great questions.. I was replying in an email and then it just went forever.

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I want to go on record saying I am an ardent yelper, and *love* *love* *love* it. Beyond the frustration of losing reviews with little warning, it is a fantastic food blog for me. With my memory, I need all the help I can get. However we have seen so much in this web world fail in the blink of an eye, and it causes concern to many people with how Yelp has responded to the media, user and business owner accusations, etc.  However, it doesn’t detract from my passion for the site.  I generate content like a madman. My canned response is always – I am excited to share this with people for years to come. I can’t wait until my kids comprehend it, and I can share the first meal I ever had with their mother by sending them a link and reading it while we tell the story. It is sort of a magical place to have fun, interact with people, build *real* local community, etc.

But I am in for the long haul, and I have seen so many sites that had a foothold get blown away by newer sites that had fixed the problems that existed in the failed site. Then there was that damned bubble.  Remember webvan? Kosmo? There is another one coming, and it is waiting in the halls.  Even the Richter Scales know that with ver 1.1 (by the way I am sure you have seen it, but that is the funniest thing you will see today, sung to Billy Joel’s “We didn’t start the fire”)

When you ignore those inherent flaws, you become obsolete and people quickly move from you to the “next big thing”. In fact, I think what has happened to Myspace vs. Facebook is incredible.  MySpace lacked accountability, verifiability, and transparency…. Which is why Facebook took off. They improved on MySpace’s flaws, and people bailed on myspace immediately. I am not suggesting that will happen to yelp, but trust is what social media is all about… and if it wavers for too long people give up. I have seen this concern constantly on the yelp boards… frustrated, confused people not getting answers. I am also not saying Myspace is dead, but you can draw your own conclusions. I don’t know anyone that even talks about it anymore. What’s more, when Facebook started challenging users with subversive marketing ideas like Beacon, without full transparency it backfired big. In fact, with their latest update I personally see long term trouble for brands (see this post: https://www.hrabaconsulting.com/blog/2009/04/09/facebook-all-atwitter/) and their ability to create commerce within the site. But that is neither here nor there.

The point is… I think yelp will be fine. They sure as hell don’t need some random hospitality blogger’s opinion about it…. But I am sure they have a foothold enough to carry them on. The question about whether it makes money, integrity or not, is a important. It’s still not profitable, and they have to figure out how to make it so. I know of hotels jumping off the advertising bandwagon on yelp, as well as business owners and users frustrated with a lack of explanation, clouded in this secret algorithm. Integrity is key, but for now the shoulder-shrugging reality may be that making money is more important. However, the money won’t be there in the future if no one trusts them. Integrity does *not* make money, but sacrificing or compromising integrity will lose money fairly quickly. If the company doesn’t focus on the following specific issue, it will be in long term trouble:

****It isn’t whether their business practices are unethical or shifty – it’s that they appear that way to so many people****

They aren’t shifty. They are just some young people trying to build a useful site. That’s the facts. No conspiracies, no conscious removing of reviews, no favouring of sponsors……

But the *PERCEPTION* is that there is something wrong, and until they come out and are fully accountable for this *PERCEPTION*, whether true or not, they will be digging themselves a deeper whole. They need to own these issues, and start to come to terms with them.

As users and businesses, instead or rolling over and allowing them to damage their brand by ignoring this stuff, we need to hold them to task. I got worried posting that last post simple because yelp doesn’t like dissention. They have an interesting philosophy, and it does seem they prefer a head in the sand mentality of celebrating their cult-like followers, rather than ever really engaging the people that have concerns or questions. In fact, even prior to my post I had been somewhat unwelcome in that I am constantly critical of these business issues. The members of yelp often like to make fun of it, not realizing that sometimes…. Yes…. “the internet *is* serious business”, mostly because I forget the difference between being inside the community, and having an industry bird’s eye view.  That is a balance I need to work on for the benefit of people that tire of my biz, or vacuous, commentary. They want people to mindlessly endorse them, as if they were followers of a religion. I never was too good at that, and yes my teachers got upset with all my questions too.

The point is…. Some bloggers and so-called “experts” target yelp because they *really* dislike it. I ask questions and bring up points because *I love it*, enough to forsake that “love it or leave it mentality” and try to help identify problems so we can work on solutions. I got worried about posting that stuff…. but it is all real, it is all pretty damning of that algorithm, and it doesn’t seem like something they want to deal with.

However… they are the *best* out there by far. It isn’t even a question. That is why so many people are trying to take them down, target them, etc. It also isn’t their fault that business owners with absolutely no idea what “social media” is, lash out, and make baseless accusations about their business practices. The idea that a social media review site would have some secretive, unethical behavior is asinine, conspiratorial, and not very helpful. However, it is a very tenuous and precarious position backing and protecting an algorithm that is obviously, in many eyes, flawed. In fact, it’s dangerous. Anyone that uses the site knows the search algorithm is, for all intensive purposes, worthless. Identifying the problem is a first step… and I really dislike naysayers and dour types that bring up problems with no solutions, but I have little that I could help with, really.

Crowdsourcing? Getting a large group of users to commit to auditing reviews from newer users, etc? They used to have moderation, maybe it’s time to bring it back in some form. Maybe an independent expert or consulting group to vet the algorithm’s stability or functionality? This is where I sort of lose it… I am not nearly as qualified as some of the incredibly smart people at yelp to offer advice. Most social media sites like twitter or facebook have multiple blogs. I am not so interested in the cult of elite on the CEO blog as much as I am with technological advancements, internal ethical dialogue, etc. When there is a glitch on twitter, twhirl, facebook api, etc….. you know about it. There is constant communication that is open, honest, accountable and humble. I would love to see this with yelp… letting the programmers inform us of problems, advancements, etc. Of course, I want to help, but don’t know where to begin.

As for yelp… I don’t even know if this is something they are working on, or if they are too focused on marketing and stabilizing a business model that, for all intensive purposes, might not work. Ad-model is failing for a lot of social media, but yelp has a grounded network based in the real world… which totally alters that model. If that is their main focus right now, they seem to be working day to day instead of having a business model that is long term and thought out.  It’s possible I don’t have a clue, but lately it does seem they fly by the seat of their pants.

As for Stoppelman, the company just hired PR to deal with damaging press, but would still go onto blogs. It looked very bad and defensive. I do think they have recently had a dialogue about how they interact with people, especially critics, online as well as how they respond. In the past, when someone outside the “yelp” community remarked, yelp (read “he”) snapped back, often at the messenger, and not the message. I made a joke about them not keeping up on their Sophocles.

It doesn’t maintain high regard or put yelp in favour of the travel/hospitality, food, or social media ethics sphere.  I don’t even know if it is important…. I think what yelp should continue to do is precisely what they did with my previous post – ignore it. If the issue that is brought up is so compelling, simply respond on the yelp blog. This seemed the course set by the PR people for the East Bay Express article (or at least a great decision by Mr. Stoppelman) and it worked fairly well (other than attacking the reporter, instead of the accusations).

In the end, it will be fine… but it will take the community to police their lack of openness and forthrightness in regards to their business practices. People who really love the site should be able to recognize it’s merits, ponder it’s flaws… have an open discussion about it…. And work together in improving it. As of now, that isn’t happening and that is frustrating to a lot of people.

Pardon this huge ramble.  I have had so many private email messages.. this has sparked controversary, discussion, interest…. and hopefully attempted to create an open dialogue about what is going on.  In fact, this has attritubted to some of the rudest email I have ever gotten, because people are passionate about this.  All I wanted was proper discussion.  I am big on data, so before making some random claim, I knew I needed to back it up.  Now that the dialogue has started, I am incredibly interested in hearing more of what ALL of you say.  I will end with this……

It’s funny that Unilever’s CEO was recently chiding businesses for not realizing that their brand is not their own, and includes Ad Ages new rules of marketing.  It is for all brands, not specifically online…. but I think it is wise for anybody in this new media world.  I think it says a lot.

1. Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them. As Mr. Clift said, “We may be ahead of our competitors, but we’re most definitely behind consumers.” The consumer is not a moron, she’s the person defining your brand.
2. You can’t hide the corporation behind the brand anymore — or even fully separate the two. Even this editor’s creaking computer only took 0.13 seconds to show that Philip Morris is owned by Altria Group. Welcome to radical transparency, where bad corporate behavior will damage your brands, and vice versa.
3. PR is a primary concern for every CMO and brand manager. If “marketing” and “PR” are not the same department, tear down the wall. Spend time deciding whether PR is underleveraged in your organization.
4. Cause marketing isn’t about philanthropy, it’s about “enlightened self-interest,” as Mr. Clift puts it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t count. Don’t be ashamed of your profit motive, because great branding and doing good are increasingly one and the same.
5. Social media is not a strategy. You need to understand it, and you’ll need to deploy it as a tactic. But remember that the social graph just makes it even more important that you have a good product. Put another way: The volume and quality of your earned media will be directly proportional to the impact and quality of your product and ideas.

–NB: recent removed reviews seem to have been flagged by the community, a bunch were taken down at once, and they explained it was somewhat of a “chain” review of a 7-11.  I was shown the text, but not how many reviews.  I am totally fine with them taking them down.