Yelp Increasing Transparency and Eliminating Favorite Review

Yesterday, Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman announced two important product changes that make it even more clear that Yelp treats review content equally for all businesses, with no connection between advertising and reviews. The announcement was made on the Yelp Official Blog.

He wrote, "Specifically, we're adding the ability to see reviews filtered by our review filter and we're discontinuing the "Favorite Review" feature that's part of our advertising package."

Why would the CEO of Yelp make this announcement?

He said, "Despite our best efforts to educate consumers and the small business community, myths about Yelp have persisted. We've said all along we believe these incorrect notions stem from the combination of the filter and this advertising feature -- and we're practicing what we preach. Lifting the veil on our review filter and doing away with 'Favorite Review' will make it even clearer that displayed reviews on Yelp are completely independent of advertising -- or any sort of manipulation."

These aren't the only changes that Yelp made yesterday. It also announced that advertisers on Yelp will soon have the ability to add a video to the slide show on their business page -- a suggestion made most recently during Yelp's ongoing series of educational meetings with business owners across the country.

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