Audio By Carbonatix
Monday night on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert joined the chorus of people who like to hate on Yelp, the business-review site. Colbert called Yelp a social media site that combines the “critical palate of Zagat with not having anything better to do.”
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Yelp had little left to lose as far as credibility goes after the slew of complaints against the company the Federal Trade Commission released earlier this year. But as Colbert points out, they’re still popular with at least one demographic — criminals, who have been posting reviews of the nation’s jails and prisons.
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In the video above, you’ll see Colbert slam the review site and point out the numerous reviews written by inmates at detention facilities throughout the country. The reviews tout the positive aspects of facilities for everything from having employees who don’t violate inmates’ constitutional privileges to having juice boxes (way to see the silver lining in that situation).
Of course, this comes after the FTC released nearly 700 complaints against Yelp that accuse the company of filtering out positive reviews and harassing restaurant owners to buy advertising.
Earlier this year, we asked local restaurant owners what they thought about the site and got a mixed bag of responses. Some said the company is innocent and can’t be held responsible for the actions of angry users while others said it’s unfair to chefs and owners.
What do you fall on the Yelp debate? Let us know in the comments below.
