Can You Hear the Yelping Yet? - Growing a Simple Idea
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Yelp’s interface looks a little busy until you get used to it; it doesn’t take the minimalist approach of Google. That makes sense given its audience. Yelp’s users may be looking for something fun to do, but might not have decided whether they want to go to a movie, restaurant, night club, bar, or some other place. So the page itself is set up to give the user some ideas. Here’s a screen shot to show you what I mean:
There are two search boxes – one for the type of business, and one for the city it should be near. You can just enter the city, as I did here for Plantation; then hit the “Welcome” link at the top and you get this page. On the left you can click on reviews for restaurants, shopping, night life, and beauty and spas. What is highlighted seems to vary by city. In the center you see a list that lets you browse by category; next to each category link is a number that tells you how many reviews are in each category.
On the right, you see a box for “Fresh Lists.” Users can post their favorite lists here; the one shown here is titled “My Favorite places to get my steak on.” That’s one I can get behind! Speaking of users, just below that list box you’ll see “Today in Talk.” That’s the social networking element of the site. Users can ask questions and get answers. If you’re not finding a business reviewed that offers the services for which you’re looking (say you need someone who does really good dress alterations), you can “start conversations.” Here’s a screen shot of a page of conversations:
On the left, you’ll note that the conversations are divided into categories. You’ll also see that the time factor is fairly prominent; every thread lists not only the number of replies, but how recently replies were received for a particular thread, down to the hour. Not all forums do this, but it makes sense that for some queries, the time frame matters.
Next: Dissecting a Review >>
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