Why do you Yelp?

yelpI’ve been asked a few times why I use Yelp or “Why would you want to write restaurant reviews?”

I love Yelp, the community spirit and how it helps everyone find local businesses with good quality products & services.

Initially, I started using Yelp as a discovery tool only, as the site helped me to search out many great restaurants and other local businesses that I would’ve otherwise not found.

After Yelp proved to be a valuable tool over and over, I decided to join in and start writing my own reviews. When I get complements like this:

“After seeing your review right now I decided I must have some for dinner tonight!!”

and reading reviews from other people that mention me:

“If I ever felt any regret about having moved to Arizona, it was probably because I thought that here I would never find pizza as good as those I’ve enjoyed for more than two decades in New York. But then I read Wes N.’s review of this place and decided to give it a try this afternoon after my trip to my beloved Costco which was in the area. Pow!!! Flashback to the great pizzerias of Arthur Avenue in The Bronx and the Lower West Side of Manhattan! Thanks, Wes, for letting me know about this place that brought a piece of New York into my life in the Valley of the Sun!”

it makes me proud to be a part of the Phoenix Yelp community. I encourage everyone to use Yelp and to contribute to the great community. I also appreciate the Yelp newsletter shout-outs to worthy local charities, events & causes.

I search on Yelp and check reviews for just about everything I do!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Yelp Elite events. Yelp awards “Elite status” to its most active, participating members. The Elite status gets you a shiny badge beside your name on the Yelp website and privileges to RSVP to “OYE’s” (Official Yelp Events), many of which are held for Elite members only. The Yelp Elite events often include free food, drinks and entertainment. I always have a great time at the Elite events. Throwing party’s and rewarding your most active members is a great way to grow your online community, Yelp has proved that.

Do you use Yelp? If so, why?

7 Comments on “Why do you Yelp?”

  1. I have no idea how I came across Yelp, but it was about 3 and a half years ago. I must have been searching for a restaurant or something. A couple months into using it as a research tool, I started getting involved in the talk threads and taking my reviews a bit more seriously. I mean, waking up to compliments, especially when you get ROTD, rules!
    I love the OYEs and the people I meet there. I’ve met a ton of people on Yelp who I consider to be friends, but would not have met them otherwise.

  2. I think I had casually come across Yelp a few times in the past, but I really got involved when I started seeing people rave about it on Twitter (including you). Then I got hooked! 🙂

  3. I am kind of obsessed with Yelp, and its basically the only thing I am willing to proselytize about to all my friends and coworkers.

    While I use Yelp primarily for reading & writing reviews, I recently moved and was wondering what your experience has been with yelp events. I know the elite ones are great (and luckily am an elite member, so I can take part)–but what about the other ones that are open to all–Are they worthwhile, or should I find somewhere else to branch out?

    -@cimmer
    Fellow Yelp Lover

    1. Thanks for your input @Cimmer! As far as “events” go on Yelp, it’s open for anyone to submit, so events can be for just about anything, some good, some bad. I think it’s a good place to search for local events, but I don’t use it exclusively. Or perhaps you’re referring to UYE’s (unofficial Yelp Events) that are focused solely around Yelp, in that case, I can’t comment, as I really haven’t been to many UYE’s.

  4. I found Yelp about 5 years ago while looking for a place to warn people about a shady business…yes, my first review was a 1 star review. Once I had joined to post the review I began checking out other reviews and using the site as a local guide.

    This led to reading the threads, tossing out a few compliments (and receiving more) and before long, dipping a foot with trepidation into the talk threads. I still lived in Boston at the time and the threads moved along briskly.

    Next came events and meeting the Community Manager in Boston. I was hooked.

    After moving to Phoenix almost 2 years ago Yelp helped me dig into the local food and events scene lightning quick and make some new friends in a hurry.

    I travel for my work and we travel as a family and my reviews have become a bit of a travelogue. If my daughter can’t remember the name of the cool Italian place we dined at in Milton, Vermont or San Francisco…we can just refer back to my reviews & pictures.

    I have also seen reviews pop up that reference me and my initial review of local places and it’s nice to think that you have steered a stranger to a local business.

    Jim W

    1. Awesome, thanks Jim. I like that you use it as a travelogue too, Yelp works for that too!

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