Snarky comments on online news articles really annoy me, but a close second are the reviews found on sites like Yelp.
Let’s be honest. The reviews are often useless. You will often find someone who:
- Thinks their reviews are the best thing since sliced bread and adds meaningless prose to sound more sophisticated,
- Likes or dislikes something but doesn’t list their rationale,
- Is hell-bent on writing the most negative review ever and/or enjoys nitpicking everything, or
- Writes a suspiciously positive review.
On that last point, did you know a study shows that 20 percent of Yelp reviews are fake? I’m actually surprised the number is not higher.
Anyways, I feel bad for business owners who have to deal with undeserved negativity that stems from Yelp reviewers. And even when a business does something wrong, why not tell the owners so that they can fix it?
That’s why I’m interested in seeing how the new app, Goodsnitch, fares. It’s been described as the “anti-Yelp app” because it doesn’t allow one-sided, glory-seeking rants. Instead, users provide private feedback to the businesses.
Whether this service replaces Yelp remains to be seen. I’m hopeful, but Yelp is probably too prevalent, unfortunately.
I’ve previously stated 
(MADISON, Wis.)—Companies that run mobile (SMS) marketing campaigns will face a new hurdle on Wednesday when the FCC’s update to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act takes effect.