Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman explains why he personally avoids trusting Amazon reviews when making consumer purchases.
Assertion Partly supported
Jeremy Stoppelman emphatically denies that Yelp allows pay-to-play review manipulation
“The answer is, of course, absolutely not. That's never been the case. And in fact, you can prove it to yourself. Look at any one of our advertisers and see if you find negative reviews. Chances are you will, because everyone gets the occasional negative review…”
Assertion Supported
Jeremy Stoppelman says Yelp filters out 25% of submitted reviews on average
“Yelp has a mechanism where 25% on average of reviews are not shown on the businesses page, and we are by far the most aggressive of any review site out there.”
Insight
Jeremy Stoppelman argues transaction verification fails to prevent fake online reviews
“And there is this like false, I would call it very false belief That if you prove that someone transacted, then that review is therefore trustworthy, but all you have to do is, like, read one of the 20 stories on Amazon about how people still easily game that …”
Disclosure
Google licensing clash led directly to Yelp acquisition talks
“We started by licensing our content to them in a way that we thought was reasonable, and then over time, it became clear that they really wanted to compete with us directly and collect information. Reviews themselves. And so then they said to us, well, we're g…”
Disclosure
Steve Jobs called Stoppelman urging Yelp not to sell to Google
“You know, he said, don't sell to Google. We think you're a great company. We think what you're doing is really interesting. He didn't say, oh, well, Apple, you know, is interested in you, but he did say, is this about money? Because Apple has a lot of money, a…”
Opinion
Jeremy Stoppelman claims Google takes a lenient stance on fake business reviews
“Google, for instance, doesn't take as harsh a stance on, you know, allowing people to solicit reviews or fake reviews or what have you, like ratings tend to be more positive and business owners love that.”