What We Know About Yelp Has Us Wondering If There Are Five Stars in Its Future

What's in the stars for Yelp? The restaurant review app wants to challenge Google as the dominant go-to digital tool for fun and for business. Watchdog Dave Lieber talks about Yelp and how it's changing.Wassup, Watchdog? Write any good Yelp reviews lately? OK, that's a strange question, but I'll go with it. The answer is no. But even if I did write, say, a restaurant review, few people would see it.Why's that?Because I'm not an established reviewer - a Yelper - so my thoughts pro or con wouldn't be recognized as credible enough to go front and center on Yelp's website or app.Who makes that decision about where a review should be displayed?You won't believe this, but it's made by software, by artificial intelligence. Yelp tells me - I talked to them - that decisions about review placement are untouched by human hands. It's automated based on Yelp's secret sauce, its algorithm.  Continue reading...