I think I have heard about Yahoo! Local sometime in the past few years, but it wasn't until this week that I took a look at the site. While I am a big fan of Yelp, this site seems to have potential for customer reviews, and even neighbor-neighbor interaction.
Customer-Based Reviews
I know Yahoo! has a space for expert reviews, but I don't think that Yahoo! Local includes any. Currently I am signed into my old Yahoo! account so it automatically made my hometown the "local" city to feature. Right after landing on the site I noticed the White Lake Neighbors tab. It sort of reminds me of a less-spam version of Facebook's Marketplace. While it is underdeveloped, and not too many listings (discussion topics) have had replies, I definitely see some potential for this section of Yahoo! Local due to the neighborly voices of the few people who have responded to questions (and who've written the reviews under the City Guide tab).
Credibility
No matter which review site, whether it be Ratemyprofessor, or Yelp (the two review sites I use most often), when it comes to credibility, I am always a little weary.
One of the first businesses I clicked on had these two reviews:
My first instinct was that because the top review said awful food and gave the business one star, and the second review said great food and gave five stars... I don't trust the second review. Jennifer H could easily be someone from the business. Then I noticed the dates were two years apart, the bad review was more recent.
As I continue to read through more reviews ratings become more consistent per business and I notice that the reviews are fairly detailed. The more details I see, the more legitimate the review sounds. I have come to react to reviews much more negatively when they sound anything close to gimmicky or whiney. Gimmicky when an overachiever, under-experienced marketer tries to do damage control or reputation building; whiney when it's a no marketing experience business owner being defensive online (telling the customer he/she is wrong... as if it is okay because they are not face-to-face.)
With the rise of social media use for business purposes, marketers are told to avoid commenting on blogs to promote their sites, make Facebook pages that simply announce sales; anything that is not true human-human interaction is looked down upon and has a really low success rate.
Another thing that stuck out to me on this site, that I have noticed on the other review sites... which is sad, is that if I see a well written review (good sentence construction, flawless spelling, etc.), I tend to think it is a company trying to save their reputation. For example:
Final Thoughts/Review
I don't usually trust any reviews unless there are 4+ majority "vote" for one side or the other, and with the vote, there needs to be consistent positive or negative details within those reviews. Until Yahoo! Local gets more users participating on this site from my town, I don't think I will check back to often; maybe annually just to see what crazy posts get placed under the White Lake Neighbors tab.
Great, well-supported assertions. Solid post.
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