Design Analysis of Yelp

Title: Design Analysis of Yelp

Yelp is a site for consumers that allows users to rate, write, and read about specific goods and services such as, restaurants, shops, hotels, salons, products and parks.

Setting up my Yelp Account:

To sign up for Yelp I simply had to enter my Name, Email, Zipcode and create a password. It was extremely easy and I now have a yelp account where I can enter more information (optional), about my hobbies, my nickname, what I do for a living and other random and quirky facts. As soon as I sign up I can begin rating services. My first choice is to rate Betty’s Burger in Santa Cruz, home of the best veggie burger I have ever tasted. It is a very explanatory experience as the site shows me how to choose a star rating, a price rating, and add additional pictures.

The purpose of this site is to let participants share their thoughts on the places they go and the food they eat. It is user friendly because it is entirely based on the users. The goal of the average user is either to promote a good service or to complain about a terrible service, or sometimes to simply offer advice about a particular place.

To be socially successful within Yelp, users must receive “compliments” and can become “elite” members. Elite members are the gods of Yelp. To gain compliments or become Elite,other Yelp members have to find your posts “funny”, “useful”, or “cool” and rate them as such. Becoming an Elite member takes time and dedication, but once Elite you receive a badge and power!

Yelp reviews can be skewed by user bias, and most often is. Its hard to know what to trust and what not to. I have found that some restaurants and stores that fellow Yelpers love, I hate!