Have you Yelped yet?
I know, I know, what on Earth are you talking about this time Ken? Well here is the scoop about Yelp as I continue to offer up my thoughts about the various Social Networks and how we apply their use in the role of Music Journalist and Photographer for the PiercingMetal Command HQ. Yelp is a reviews website and Social Network that lets you post your thoughts about restaurants, stores and numerous other things. You are able to rate across a five star scale and then offer up your objective views about the space. For example, let’s assume you visit a fast food restaurant and it takes you thirty minutes to get an order in when there is no one on the line. Clearly this is something that other Yelpers could benefit in learning about. Oh yes, the reviewer community are called Yelpers. Pretty clever right?
I’ve been using this a little more religiously over the past year and really try to be as on point as possible. If I have only tried the hamburger at a place I cannot speak to the rest of their cuisine, but I stress that this is all I had. If I had companions with me who had other fare that I sampled I mention this, or line out their own comments for better Yelper understanding. It’s very important to be honest with what you write and not have an agenda over one place against another. Questionable reviews can get flagged by the other Yelpers in the community and sometimes the profile or email address gets banned for improper practices. Keep that stuff in mind when you begin typing. To see my existing reviews and profile just click the logo below as that will bring you right over there. I add to my Yelp account when the moment and the experience motivates me to do so. At this point in time there are a few dozen reviews and surely more to come since I have been trying some new places as well as re-visiting some favorites.
One quick note about my profile. While I often speak about the places and spaces that I adventure into for the sake of my musical scribe life, it is a personal profile at the end of the day. With that in mind when it comes to adding people to the list of friends in the network I am pretty locked into only adding those folks who I actually know or do business with as a member of the media. It’s nothing personal and can be thought of as keeping certain groups in certain circles like one does with the Google+ stuff. One of the things that I like most about this network is that you can follow the Yelpers that you find of some interest and still leave them compliments, messages and the like. Someone actually contacted me about a restaurant once and remembered seeing me at a Metal show. I was more than happy to help them along.
The premise has expanded to more than just restaurants and bars and now features shops, scenic places and more. I’ve never had to add a new place but I think that you can do that if you need to. Each Yelp review also offers the means to answer additional questions that will benefit the community so please always try to answer them since its very helpful. If there is free Wi-Fi let them know, if there is only street parking get the word out and if you need to wear a tuxedo and tails – You get the picture 🙂 – Just be honest and objective as that makes you more valuable to the whole process. Yelpers who continually add items and grow popular became Elite members and hence are respected a lot more. The way I use this as a writing adventurer is that I speak about the places I am hitting before or after a concert or event and even discussing the venue of the show itself when its possible to give a few tips to the fans who might want to know more about the place.
This kind of Social Network was one of the key reasons that I began my series of Concert Pre-Gaming narratives some months ago. I offer up some candid images from those hangs and a little more fun details and memories. Check those out when time allows via THIS LINK. These posts were moved over to my Lifestyle Blog site PiercingKen.com since it deals with dining, fashion and tourism a lot more than PiercingMetal.com does.
Learn more about Yelp by clicking their official Wikipedia entry HERE.
Should you have any interest in seeing the places that I have Yelped, please check me out via the badge link below. You can click “Follow This Reviewer” if you like and then you will be in the loop a little more.
