A video: “Whatever Happened To Yelp?”

Remember Yelp? Back in the early 2010s, Yelp was plastered over everything restaurant you could think of. They would have signs like: “Help us with Yelp”. Yelp had quickly become the go-to place to review restaurants, shopping centers, and entertainment venues, but since then, Yelp has largely faded from the spotlight. It seems that most have not been big fans of Yelp’s monetization efforts which include giving restaurants the opportunity to advertise their listings and pay to get better listings. Many have speculated that Yelp secretly prioritizes these restaurants and makes them look better than they are. In other words, many feel that Yelp is secretly pay-to-play. Despite the negative sentiment surrounding Yelp though, Yelp’s financials are actually doing better than ever thanks to their monetization efforts. This video explains the rise and fall of Yelp and why Yelp is financially doing better than ever even though consumer sentiment is worse than ever.

Here are key timestamps linked to significant moments in the video:

1. 00:00:00 – Introduction: Yelp’s Rise and Fall
2. 00:00:33 – Yelp’s Peak Popularity and Decline
3. 00:01:09 – Negative Consumer and Business Sentiment
4. 00:01:42 – Yelp’s Surprising Financial Success
5. 00:02:15 – How Yelp Originally Started
6. 00:02:51 – Yelp’s Founders and Early Challenges
7. 00:03:24 – The Pivot That Made Yelp Popular
8. 00:04:31 – Organic Growth and Early Traction
9. 00:06:05 – Yelp’s Successful Expansion
10. 00:06:45 – Yelp’s Push for Monetization
11. 00:07:20 – The Ethical Concerns of Paid Profiles
12. 00:08:22 – Yelp’s Allegations of Review Manipulation
13. 00:08:57 – Yelp’s Lawsuit and Controversial Court Ruling
14. 00:09:31 – The Shift in Consumer Trust
15. 00:10:05 – How Yelp Survived Despite Losing Popularity
16. 00:11:07 – Yelp’s Declining Popularity but Increasing Revenue