Yelp, Essential or Evil?

Ok, I have a confession to make. I used to think reading reviews were useless. I mean, I am my own person. What do I care what other people thought about this restaurant? Or a dress? Or a watch? I can go look at it or experience it myself and form my own opinions. Also, I was of the mindset that people who wrote reviews were of two extremes. They either loved something, or they hated it. Unless you were paid to write a review, why else would you take the time and effort to say something was just ok? So again, reviews = unreliable.

But then I graduated college. All of the sudden, I was thrust out into the world, fending for myself and paying my own bills (except cell phone. can't give up that family plan). I even had my own health insurance for Pete's sake! All of the sudden, money was less quick to leave the palm. Did I really want to just walk in to some random restaurant, plop down $40 bucks for a mediocre meal? No. I wanted assurance that the meal would be good. Enter Yelp. (and Groupon and Living Social, but more about those gems later). Now, I could do a little reconnaissance before walking through the door of any restaurant that would run me upwards of $20 bucks. 

I have to admit, I rarely use Yelp to decide whether or not I will go to a restaurant. That mostly comes from walking by a place and smelling the food and seeing how happy the people eating there look. I use Yelp mostly to figure out what to order once I'm there and so far, Yelp has rarely led me astray. If 4 out 10 people rave about the Three Pepper Chicken at Sichuan Spring, you better bet I'm going to try it. 

Some people have complained that Yelp can hurt businesses. I think that's true...if you are a bad business. I doubt people base their expectations of a place based on reading a few bad reviews. But a majority of mediocre to bad reviews? I think I would think twice. Good places will probably hover around a 3.5. The majority of them good, but brought down by those who are impossible to please or get off on bringing others down. But it's pretty easy to spot the extremists or the overly picky. Really good places, its obvious from the general tone. There are more superlatives, poetic language and exclamation points galore!

And, if you think about it, Yelp is a great equalizer. When you want a recommendation for a restaurant, you ask your friends, coworkers, families. What about the loners of the world? or the awkward? Or the ones with a severe social anxiety? Don't they deserve the benefit of the opinions of the masses? I'm being a little facetious here, but I really do think its nice that there's a community of people who can point me in the right direction without even knowing it.

As far as polarizing opinions go, I think Yelp has found an ingenious way to address that. The "Elite Club". All of the sudden there's a incentive to write reviews, many reviews, any reviews. Doesn't matter if you didn't love it or hate it. All that matters is that you reviewed it.