Difference between revisions of "Yelp Reviewing"
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− | There is also the ethical issue of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_bias Response Bias] present. Most of the people that review places online feel extreme about their experiences with the business. 47% of the ratings are 5 stars <ref name = "Yelp Factsheet">https://www.yelp.com/factsheet</ref> | + | There is also the ethical issue of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_bias Response Bias] present. Most of the people that review places online feel extreme about their experiences with the business. Therefore, online reviews tend to over represent customers with extreme views. 47% of the ratings are 5 stars, distorting users' view of the company. <ref name = "Yelp Factsheet">https://www.yelp.com/factsheet</ref> Since customers with moderate views of a company do not find it worth the time and effort to leave a review on Yelp, company reviews are left with extreme positive and negative reviews causing a bi-modal distribution of reviews. Bi-modal distributions cause difficulty in extracting an honest view of the company.<ref>https://hbr.org/2018/03/online-reviews-are-biased-heres-how-to-fix-them</ref> |
===Privacy=== | ===Privacy=== |
Revision as of 23:41, 29 March 2018
Contents
History
Features
Ratings
Yelp’s platform was established based on the users: the number of users that utilize the app and their contributions to the app. In other words, Yelp was created with lists of businesses around the world and information associated with their payments and amenities, but their ratings and reviews were initialized as a blank interface. It allows anyone who has an account to rank their experience on a scale from one to five. These ratings may or may not influence people in the future from using a business’s services.Comments
Comments are construed underneath the ratings, so that people have other ways of responding to experiences that people have had with a business. They are important for others to develop an idea as to if there is a general consensus on whether the business was successful with their services or not.
Photos
While reviews are a good indicator as to whether the local business is a good one, a picture is worth a thousand words. Sometimes, it is important, for example in a restaurant, to see whether the food looks appetizing to the user, or if the restaurant is clean. As much as aesthetics don’t determine whether the food is good quality, some people value the atmosphere of the restaurant when determining if they should go there. Photos are the only ways that users can access that information without being physically present in the restaurant, in this case.
Categories/Filters
Yelp allows a user to specify their preferences. For example, if a user were to look for a restaurant, they would be able to specify whether they would like Japanese food, pizza, Mexican, Chinese, thai, etc. They also have the options of filtering based on price ranges, whether the restaurant delivers, whether the restaurant has a bar, and even whether a restaurant is good for big groups of people. Hair salons would have similar filters, such as “Accepts Online Appointments”, “Open Now”, etc. These filters allow a user to find a local business that matches their preferences as quickly as possible. Filtering has created a better interface for Yelp.
Yelp Growth
Ethical Implications
Deception
There have been several complaints regarding "Yelp bullying businesses to pay for better reviews" [5] Users in society are deceived when they look up a particular business and see all positive reviews (of a poorly rated business) until they click on "See more reviews." Many have accused Yelp of allowing businesses to hide their "bad reviews" and deceiving all of the people use the application. People have also accused yelp of pressuring or allowing companies to pay for advertisement in exchange for only good reviews to ever be shown or lowering the number of bad reviews. Companies, such as Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital are suing Yelp for extortion, claiming Yelp is threatening their businesses profitability by negatively manipulating reviews unless companies buy ad space.[6] "The U.S. Federal Trade Commission received more than 2,000 consumer complaints about Yelp from 2008 to March 4, 2014."[5] The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled Yelp's manipulation of ratings was legal. Judge Marsha Berzon stated that Yelp can legally "post and arrange actual user reviews on its website as it sees fit" and it is not considered extortion at this level.[6] Many Yelp users have voiced their concerns that users expect and rely on honest ratings when looking for goods and services. Although Yelp's manipulation of reviews may be legal, users argue that Yelp holds an obligation to show truthful ratings of businesses [6]
Response Bias
There is also the ethical issue of Response Bias present. Most of the people that review places online feel extreme about their experiences with the business. Therefore, online reviews tend to over represent customers with extreme views. 47% of the ratings are 5 stars, distorting users' view of the company. [7] Since customers with moderate views of a company do not find it worth the time and effort to leave a review on Yelp, company reviews are left with extreme positive and negative reviews causing a bi-modal distribution of reviews. Bi-modal distributions cause difficulty in extracting an honest view of the company.[8]
Privacy
Yelp has created a privacy setting that allows businesses to access information regarding your demographics. [9]
References
- ↑ https://www.yelp.com/about Retrieved 14 March 2018.
- ↑ https://www.eater.com/2014/8/5/6177213/yelp-turns-10-from-startup-to-online-review-dominance
- ↑ https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/14/yelp-q-and-a/ Retrieved 13 March 2018.
- ↑ https://www.eater.com/2014/8/5/6177213/yelp-turns-10-from-startup-to-online-review-dominance Retrieved 13 March 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-businesses-into-paying-for-better-reviews-1.2899308
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Workplace Ethics Advice. “Is It Ethical to Allow Yelp to Manipulate Ratings Based on Ad Purchase?” Workplace Ethics Advice, 23 Oct. 2014, www.workplaceethicsadvice.com/2014/10/is-it-ethical-to-allow-yelp-to-manipulate-ratings-based-on-ad-purchase.html.
- ↑ https://www.yelp.com/factsheet
- ↑ https://hbr.org/2018/03/online-reviews-are-biased-heres-how-to-fix-them
- ↑ https://splinternews.com/a-little-known-yelp-privacy-setting-tells-businesses-yo-1793848010