Yelp reviews already impact us, our families, our businesses, and our communities. It has always been accepted in our society that when spreading the word about a business, word of mouth is second to none. 

Word of mouth is by far the most common way to share information relating to all aspects of our society. Those aspects include, but are not limited to: education , employment, entertainment, politics, and social issues. There has always been a widely accepted truth when it comes to word of mouth. When it comes to a positive experience, we may tell one or two people, or may not tell anyone. But when it comes to a negative experience we may tell ten people. 

Smart phone apps and social media has taken word of mouth to the next level. Instead of sharing with one, two, or ten people, we can now share with thousands and sometimes millions.

Yelp has created a review empire. They encourage reviews based on an opinion, and leave the reviewed in a no win situation when it comes to negative reviews.  You can’t delete them, and you can’t disagree without additional negative repercussions. Negative reviews can often be damaging to employees, management and ownership. Especially when the reviewer uses a persons first and last name.   Because it is an opinion, a negative review can be a complete fabrication as long as it doesn’t include, threats, content that is racial, includes sexual orientation, or illegal.  The only way it can come down is either by Yelp (nearly impossible) or the reviewer.  

An expiration on reviews will provide a more accurate review, and will not punish the current staff and ownership. A lot of reviews no longer apply to these businesses. Often, the mentioned employee or manager may no longer be employed there. There could be new ownership. But Yelps’ current algorithm can not account for this. And patronizing a business today could be deterred when reading a outdated Yelp review from last year. 

Yelp reviews need an expiration date, otherwise their overall review process has no real value, only a deterrent.  I do not want my first and last name used in a review that no longer applies. This affects people, personally, financially, and mentally.