Not to my surprise, Yelp has recently received a lot of
criticism. In his article Unfortunately,
Reviews on Yelp Cannot Be Relied Upon for Vetting Purposes, Mark Baer
addressed the issue of Yelp’s inaccurate reviews.
As a member
of Yelp I rely on its reviews to boost my law firm and increase my presence on
the Internet. But it is unfortunate when one person has the power to ruin one’s
reputation by harsh and untrue words. It is not until recently that I realized a
good Internet presence is essential to a booming business. There are many
reasons why one may want to post negative comments, but it is unfair when
someone’s business has to suffer because of it.
Note that in September of this year, the 9th Cir. Court of Appeals rendered
a decision that “even if Yelp removes positive reviews or writes negative
reviews to pressure the companies to pay for advertising, that is at most, hard
bargaining, and therefore perfectly legal.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-baer/unfortunately-reviews-on-_b_5893400.html.
Therefore, where is an employer, like me, supposed to turn for good reviews?
