What type of service is yelp

Businesses live and die by this kind of communication, and now the Internet has made it even easier for word to spread quickly about the quality of all kinds of services. One of the more popular social networking sites that focuses on reviewing businesses and sharing information about them is Yelp. Founded in in San Francisco, Calif. Yelp takes a Web 2. Although the company is based out of San Francisco, its set up online communities in every major city in the United States and can be found in several other countries, too.

Yelp has recently expanded its reach to Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Anyone with an Internet connection can browse the Yelp Web site. It's easy to look through business reviews and ratings and read about other people's experiences. When you open up Yelp's home page, chances are the site will recognize the nearest major city or town to which you live and display popular locations and highlighted reviews. For instance, if you're accessing Yelp from New York City, you'll probably open up yelp.

But you can't write your own reviews or follow other Yelp users if you don't first sign up for, and manage, a personal account. Signing up for a Yelp account is basically like signing up for most other social networking Web sites -- to create a profile, the site needs your first and last name, your e-mail address, a password for logging in and, if you live in the United States, your ZIP code, too.

Your gender and age are optional. Once you're signed in, you're officially a yelper, the common nickname for Yelp users. Now you can review practically any establishment in your community. The information above is provided for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice and may not be suitable for your circumstances.

Unless stated otherwise, references to third-party links, services, or products do not constitute endorsement by Yelp. We care about your data. Read about it in our Privacy Policy. SEJ » Local Search. Where do you go when you need to find the best Italian restaurant in your city? What Is Yelp? Yelp is a social site for everything local. FAQ What is Yelp? Is Yelp free? Google maps have ratings as well as the ability to provide you accurate directions and proximity to your food which can also be leveraged to autonomously deliver that food to you.

Network effects are a vicious cycle until they are not, is this a sustainable business or is it simply a matter of time? This is a really interesting article on Yelp, which has essentially taken over the review and discovery industry.

The benefits for companies cannot be understated as the platform exposes businesses big and small to huge consumer markets. I believe initiatives like this keep many user coming back to Yelp. Is Yelp constrained to a particular demographic? Could this create issues in the future? Yelp is also very susceptible to fake reviews? How can they protect the culture of authenticity. You must be logged in to post a comment. Skip to content. The HBS Digital Initiative brings together perspectives across disciplines to help people understand how technology is transforming organizations and the greater world.