Yelp is an American multinational company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It develops, hosts and markets Yelp.com and the Yelp mobile app, which publishes reviews sourced about local businesses, as well as reservation reservations online at Yelp Reservations. The company also trains small businesses on how to respond to reviews, organizes social events for reviewers, and provides business data, including health screening scores.
Yelp was founded in 2004 by former PayPal employees Russell Simmons and Jeremy Stoppelman. Yelp grew quickly and collected several funding rounds. In 2010, its revenues reached $ 30 million and its website has published more than 4.5 million reviews sourced from many people. From 2009 to 2012, Yelp expanded across Europe and Asia. In 2009, they entered into several negotiations with Google for a potential acquisition. Yelp became a public company in March 2012 and became profitable for the first time two years later. During the fourth quarter of 2017, Yelp has 77 million unique visitors through desktop computers and 64 million unique visitors through its monthly mobile website. By the end of 2017, Yelp has 148 million reviews. Company revenue comes from the advertising business.
According to BusinessWeek , Yelp has a complicated relationship with a small business. Critics of Yelp focus on the legitimacy of the review, Yelp's public statements manipulate and block reviews to increase advertising spending, as well as concerns about the privacy of reviewers.
Video Yelp
Riwayat perusahaan (2004-2016)
Origins (2004-2009)
Two former PayPal employees, Jeremy Stoppelman and Russell Simmons, founded Yelp in business incubator, MRL Ventures, in 2004. Stoppelman and Simmons compiled a preliminary idea for Yelp as an email-based referral network after Stoppelman contracted the flu and had trouble. time finding online recommendations for local doctors. Former co-founder of PayPal and founder of MRL Ventures, Max Levchin, provided $ 1 million in initial funding. MRL founder David Galbraith, who incited local service projects based on user reviews, appears under the name "Yelp". In an interview published in February 2013, Stoppelman explained why they decided on "Yelp" for the company name, stating that "it's short, easy to remember, easy to spell, and familiar with 'help' and 'yellow pages'".
According to Fortune Magazine , Yelp's early email system was "convoluted". The idea was rejected by investors and did not attract users outside friends and family co-founders. Usage data shows that users are not answering a referral request, but using the "Real Review" feature, which allows them to write unsolicited reviews. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, "the popularity of the site soared" after it was redesigned in late 2005. Yelp raised $ 5 million in funding in 2005 from Bessemer Ventures and $ 10 million in November 2006 from Benchmark Capital. The number of reviewers on this site increased from 12,000 in 2005, to 100,000 in 2006. In the summer of 2006, the site had one million visitors every month. He raised $ 15 million in funding from DAG Ventures in February 2008. In 2010, Elevation Partners invested $ 100 million; $ 75 million was spent on buying equity from employees and investors, while $ 25 million was invested in sales and expansion staff. Yelp grew from six million visitors each month in 2007 to 16.5 million in 2008 and from 12 to 24 cities over the same time period. In 2009, the site had 4.5 million reviews. In 2010, Yelp's revenue is estimated at $ 30 million and employs 300 people.
Private company (2009-2012)
Yelp introduced a site for the UK in January 2009 and one for Canada in August. The first non-English Yelp site was introduced in France in 2010; users have the option to read and write content in French or English. From 2010 to 2011, Yelp launched several other sites, in Austria, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. International website traffic doubled over the same time period. An Australian website aired in November 2011. It was supported through a partnership with Telstra, which provides one million initial business listings, and was initially glitchy. Yelp is present in 20 countries by the end of 2012, including Turkey and Denmark. The first site of Yelp in Asia was introduced in September 2012 in Singapore, followed by Japan in 2014.
In December 2009, Google entered into negotiations with Yelp to acquire the company, but both sides failed to reach an agreement. According to The New York Times , Google offered more than $ 500 million, but the deal failed after Yahoo offered $ 1 billion. Tech Crunch reported that Google refused to match Yahoo's offer. Both offerings were later abandoned following a dispute between management and the board of directors of Yelp about the offer. In June 2015, Yelp published a study that accused Google of altering search results to benefit from its own online services.
Yelp started a service called Yelp Deals in April 2011, but in August it reduced the Offer due to increased competition and market saturation. In September, the Federal Trade Commission investigated Yelp's allegation that Google was using Yelp's web content without authorization and that Google's search engine algorithms preferred Google Places over similar services provided by Yelp. Under the January 2014 agreement, Google is not subject to anti-trust litigation of the FTC, but must allow such services to bark the ability to opt-out of their data scraped and used on Google websites.
Public entity (2012-present)
After submitting an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities Exchange Commission in November 2011, Yelp shares started public trading on the New York Stock Exchange on March 2, 2012. With a share price of $ 15, the company was valued at $ 898 million. In 2012, Yelp agreed to acquire its largest European competitor, Qype, for $ 50 million. The following year, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman reduced his salary to $ 1. Yelp acquired SeatMe's start-up online reservation company for $ 12.7 million in cash and company shares in 2013. Yelp's second-quarter revenue of $ 55 million "exceeded expectations" , but the company is not profitable yet.
In 2012/13, Yelp moved to his new headquarters, occupying nearly 150,000 square feet on 12 floors of 140 New Montgomery (former PacBell building) in San Francisco.
The company was profitable for the first time in the second quarter of 2014, as a result of increased advertising spending by business owners and possibly from changes in Google's local search algorithm. It's dubbed Google Pigeon, which helps authoritative local directory sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, in getting more visibility. Throughout the year, the Yelp website was launched in Mexico, Japan and Argentina. Also in 2014, Yelp expanded in Europe through the acquisition of the restaurant-based restaurant site German-Critic and CityVox based in France.
In early February 2015 Yelp announced it would buy Eat24, an online food ordering service, for $ 134 million. Then in August 2017, Yelp sold Eat24 to Grubhub for $ 287.5 million. This acquisition resulted in a partnership to integrate Grubhub shipments into Yelp restaurant profiles.
At the end of 2015, the section "Public Service & Government" was introduced to Yelp and the Public Service Administration began to encourage government agencies to create and monitor official government pages. For example, the Transportation Security Administration creates the official YSA TSA page. Later that year Yelp began experimenting in San Francisco with a consumer warning added to the restaurant page with a poor cleanliness score in government inspections. A study conducted by Children's Hospital Boston found that Yelp's review of keywords related to food poisoning correlated strongly with poor hygiene in restaurants. Researchers at Columbia University used data from Yelp to identify three instances of food poisoning associated with unreported restaurants.
In 2016, Yelp invests in Nowait, an app that allows users to see how long they have to wait in restaurants that do not accept reservations, and put their names on the waiting list without being physically present in the restaurant. When their table is ready, the user gets a text message. Customers can also send a message back to say that they are late, and the restaurant may decide whether they will hold the table or not for them.
On November 2nd, 2016, along with earnings reports for Q3 2016, Yelp announced it would drastically lower its operations beyond North America and halt international expansion. This resulted in basically termination of all international employees in Yelp's 30 international markets from sales, marketing, public relations, business outreach, and government relations departments. Employees abroad now consist primarily of engineering staff and product management. Yelp claims the termination of this employment affects only 175 people, or 4 percent of the total workforce.
In April 2017, Yelp announced that it had acquired the Turnstyle Analytics Wi-Fi company for $ 20 million. In May, 2017 Yelp's shares fell 30% after disappointing sales.
Maps Yelp
Features
The Yelp website, Yelp.com, is a review of local businesses and social networking sourced from the crowd. The community of its users is mainly active in major metropolitan areas. This site has pages devoted to individual locations, such as restaurants or schools, where Yelp users can submit reviews of their products or services using a one to five star rating system. Businesses can also update contact information, clock and other basic list information or add special offers. In addition to writing reviews, users can react to reviews, plan events, or discuss their personal lives. According to Sterling Market Intelligence, Yelp is "one of the most important sites on the Internet." In Q4 2017 has 141 million unique visitors each month and 148 million reviews.
78 percent of businesses listed on this site have a rating of three stars or better, but some negative reviews are very personal or extreme. Many reviews are written in an entertaining or creative way. Users can give a "thumbs up" if it's "useful, funny, or cool." Every day "Review of the Day" is determined by user vote.
Starting June 2016, 72 percent of Yelp's searches were performed from a mobile device. The Yelp iPhone app was introduced in December 2008. In August 2009, Yelp released an update to the iPhone app with a hidden Easter Egg reality feature called Monocle, which lets users search through their iPhone cameras to view Yelp data on businesses viewed through the camera. Check-in feature added in 2010.
Yelp users can make restaurant reservations at Yelp via Yelp Reservations, a feature originally added in June 2010. Yelp's reservation feature was originally made through the 2010 partnership with OpenTable, but Yelp became increasingly competitive with OpenTable after the acquisition of SeatMe Yelp in 2013, resulting in a final partnership in April 2015. SeatMe is reworked to the current "Yelp Reservations" feature. In 2013, features to order food and ships are added to Yelp as well as the ability to see cleanliness check scores and make appointments at the spa. Yelp content is integrated into Siri and iOS mapping app and iOS 2012 release from Apple 6. Yelp also has a feature to find local businesses offering special offers for Yelp users.
In March 2014, Yelp added features to order and schedule manicures, flowers, golf and legal counsel, among others, through Yelp. In October 2014, the company, in collaboration with the Hipmunk hotel search site, added a feature to book the hotel through Yelp.
Yelp started a 7-10% cash back program in several US restaurants in 2016 through partnership with Empyr.
On February 14, 2017, Yelp launched the Yelp Questions and Answers, a new feature that allows users to ask specific business-related queries. This allows users to vote and drop answers for answers on the basis of help.
Features for businesses
Yelp adds the ability for business owners to respond to reviews in 2008. Businesses can respond personally by sending messages to reviewers or publicly on their profile pages. In some cases, Yelp users who have had bad experiences have updated their reviews better due to business efforts to fix it. In other cases, disagreements between reviewers and business owners have caused physical abuse and quarrels. This system has led to criticism that business owners can bribe reviewers with free or discounted food to improve their ratings, even though Yelp users say this is rare. Business owners can "claim" a profile, allowing them to respond to reviews and view traffic reports. Businesses can also offer discounts to frequent Yelp users using the check-in feature. In 2014, Yelp releases apps for business owners to respond to reviews and manage their profiles from mobile devices. Business owners can also mark a review to be removed, if a review violates Yelp's content guidelines.
Yelp's revenue comes primarily from advertising sales and sponsored listings for small businesses. Advertisers can pay for their list to appear at the top of search results, or display ads on the pages of their competitors. In 2016, ad revenue grew at a 30% rate year on year. Yelp will only allow businesses with at least a three star rating to register ads. Initially sponsored "sponsored reviews" can place positive reviews above the negative, but Yelp stopped offering this option in 2010 in an attempt to hinder the misconception that advertisers can marginalize negative reviews for payment.
Business relationships
A Harvard Business School study published in 2011 found that every "star" in the Yelp rating affects business owner sales by 5-9 percent. A 2012 study by two Berkeley economists found that an increase from 3.5 to 4 stars in Yelp resulted in a 19 percent increase in restaurant opportunities booked during rush hour. A 2014 survey of 300 small business owners conducted by Yodle found that 78 percent were worried about negative reviews. Also, 43 percent of respondents said they felt online reviews were unfair, as there was no verification that the reviews were written by legitimate customers.
Astroturfing
When Yelp became more influential, fake review practices written by competitors or business owners became more common. A study by Harvard professor Michael Luca analyzed 316,415 reviews in Boston and found that fake reviews rose from 6% site reviews in 2006 to 20% by 2014. Yelp's own review filters identified 25% of the reviews as suspicious.
Yelp has a proprietary algorithm that tries to evaluate whether the review is genuine and filters reviews that it believes is not based on the true personal experience of a patron, as required by the Site Terms of Use. Filter reviews were first developed two weeks after the site was set up and the company saw their "fake first-name review". Filtered reviews are moved to a custom area and are not counted against the business star rating. Filters sometimes filter out valid reviews, leading to complaints from business owners. New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman says Yelp has the most aggressive "astroturfing" filter of sites from the crowds it inspects. Yelp has also been criticized for not revealing how the filter works, which it says will reveal information about how to outsmart it.
Yelp also conducted a "sting operation" to uncover businesses writing their own reviews. In October 2012, Yelp placed a 90-day "consumer alert" on 150 business lists believed to have paid reviews. The warning reads "We caught someone trying to buy reviews for this business". In June 2013, Yelp filed a lawsuit against BuyYelpReview/AdBlaze for allegedly writing a fake review to get paid. In 2013 Yelp sued a lawyer suspected of being part of a group of law firms who exchanged Yelp's review, saying that many of the company's reviews came from their own offices. The lawyer said Yelp was seeking revenge for his legal dispute and his own activism against Yelp. The attempt to win the dismissal of the case was rejected in December 2014. In September 2013, Yelp teamed up with Operation Clean Turf, an attack operation by the New York Attorney General who revealed 19 astroturfing operations. In April 2017, the Norfolk, Massachusetts jury awarded a jewelry store more than $ 34,000 after stipulating that its competitors' employees had filed a fake Yelp negative review that consciously caused emotional distress.
Alleged manipulation by Yelp
According to BusinessWeek , Yelp has "always had a complicated relationship with a small business." Throughout much of Yelp's history there is a suspicion that Yelp has manipulated their website reviews based on participation in its advertising program. Many business owners say Yelp sellers offer to remove or suppress negative reviews if they buy ads. Others reported seeing glaringly displayed negative reviews and positive reviews buried; soon after that, they will receive a call from Yelp who tried to sell paid advertisement. Yelp says its sales staff does not have the ability to modify reviews and changes in reviews are caused by its automated filters.
Several lawsuits have been filed against Yelp accusing him of blackmailing businesses to buy advertising products. Each has been dismissed by the judge before reaching the hearing. In early 2010, a class action lawsuit was filed against Yelp accusing her of asking the Long Beach Animal Hospital to pay $ 300 per month for advertising services that included the suppression or dismissal of disparaging customer reviews. The following month, nine additional businesses joined the class action lawsuit, and two similar lawsuits were filed. That the May suit was merged into a class action lawsuit, dismissed by San Francisco, US District Judge Edward Chen in 2011. Chen said the review was protected by the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and that there was no evidence of manipulation by Yelp.. The plaintiffs appealed. In September 2014, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal, finding that even if Yelp manipulated reviews to support advertisers, this would not be included in the legal definition of a court of extortion.
In August 2013, Yelp launched a series of town hall style meetings in 22 major American cities in an effort to address concerns among local business owners. Many participants expressed frustration with Yelp's automatic filters deleting positive reviews after they refused to advertise, received reviews from users who never entered the establishment, and other issues. A Harvard study in 2011 by Michael Luca found that there was no statistically significant correlation between being a Yelp advertiser and having a better review. The Federal Trade Commission received 2,046 complaints about Yelp from 2008 to 2014, mostly from small businesses related to allegedly unfair or false reviews or negative reviews that came after refusing to advertise. According to Yelp, the Federal Trade Commission completed its second inspection of Yelp's practice in 2015 and in both cases did not pursue action against the company.
Journalist David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times also criticized Yelp in 2014 for selling competitor advertising practices to run on top of business listings and then offering to remove ads as part of paid features.
In 2015, San Francisco filmmaker Kaylie Milliken reportedly produced a documentary film titled "Billion Dollar Bully" about Yelp's alleged business practices.
Community
By Inc. Magazines Most reviewers (sometimes called "Yelpers") are "well-meaning" and write reviews to express themselves, improve their writing, or be creative. In some cases, they write reviews to ridicule the interests of companies or businesses they do not like. Reviewers can also be motivated by badges and honors, such as being the first to review new locations, or with the praise and attention of other users. Many reviews are written in an entertaining or creative way. Some users post reviews as a matter of protest or support from a business's political view; Yelp tried to filter this out. Users can give a "thumbs up" if it's "useful, funny, or cool." Every day "Review of the Day" is determined by user vote. According to The Discourse of Consumer Review Online many Yelp reviewers are internet savvy adults at the age of 18-25 years old or â € Å"baby boomer suburbsâ €.
Reviewers are encouraged to use original names and photos. Every year Yelp community members are invited or nominated themselves to the "Yelp Elite Squad" and some are accepted based on their review of the quality and frequency of their reviews. Members can nominate other reviewers for elite status. Users should also use their real names and photos in Yelp to qualify for the Elite Squad. To receive a nomination, members may not own a business. Yelpers is governed by the council and is estimated to have several thousand members. Yelp did not reveal how Elite Yelp was chosen. Elite Squad members are given different color badges based on how long they become elite members. Yelp's Elite Squad originated with Yelp party started throwing for members in 2005, and in 2006 it was officially codified; the name came from a joking reference to the productive reviewers who were invited to Yelp's party as "Yelp Elite Squad." Members are invited to a special opening party, rewarded, and receive other prizes. By 2017, there are more than 80 Local Elite Squads in North America.
Yelp receives about six calls from the courts a month asking for the names of anonymous reviewers, mostly from business owners who seek litigation against those who write negative reviews. In 2012 the Alexandria Circuit Court and the Virginia Court of Appeal held Yelp in disgust for refusing to reveal the identity of seven reviewers who anonymously criticized the carpet cleaning business; in 2014 Yelp appealed to Virginia Supreme Court. Six Internet companies and the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the decision on Yelp would have a negative impact on free speech online. The judge of the preliminary verdict says that if reviewers are not really using business services, their communications are false claims that are not protected by freedom of speech laws. In 2014, California state laws are enacted that prohibit businesses using "defamatory clauses" in contracts or terms of use that allow them to prosecute or good customers who write negatively about them online.
By 2017, Yelp employs a staff of over 80 community managers who organize parties for productive reviewers, sending encouraging messages to reviewers and host classes to small business owners. Yelp audiences are not required to reveal their identity, but Yelp encourages them to do so.
See also
- Crowdsourcing
- The reputation management
- "You're Not Yelping"
References
External links
- Official website
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Yelp Reservations reservation website
- Yelp! Inc Archiving History EDGAR
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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