yelp

My latest web addiction is yelp. It’s not new; I’m just a little slow getting to the party. For the uninitiated, yelp is a social network / business review website. Users contribute their thoughts on a range of businesses, but mostly they provide input on restaurants. Sure, there are a lot of websites that do this, but most of them are city specific. Yelp has sections for most every big city in the US.  In addition, the way information is gathered provides richer reviews of businesses and, of course, there’s the obligatory Google Maps mash-up capability showing business locations after you do a search. Beyond all that, yelp encourages contributors to be irreverent and have fun. As a result, many of the reviews are entertaining to read as well as informative. Check it out and do your bit to promote your favorites (especially small, local businesses).