Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Should We Trust Yelp?


            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? 

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