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In spite of the high level of competitiveness in the industry of websites containing consumer reviews, Yelp remains to take the leading positions in the Internet and local markets. Yelp was founded in 2004, and it was one of the first websites to occupy the niche of online platforms with consumer reviews and user ratings. It is important to state that Yelp quickly gained the consumers’ recognition as the most reputable website with the credible data (Blanding, 2011, p. 1).
The current reputation of the company is based on the progressive activities of Jeremy Stoppelman, the Yelp CEO, who succeeded in attracting the users. Mr. Stoppelman made the small company located in San Francisco become one of the leaders among the consumer review websites in the United States with more than 45 million regular visitors (Lim & Van Der Heide, 2015, p. 68).
The success is influenced by Jeremy Stoppelman’s achievements in the sphere of addressing the interests of such stakeholders as businesses, consumers, and potential users of the website. The purpose of this report is to analyze the Yelp’s communication with stakeholders while responding to the recent scandal associated with accusing Yelp of following the unethical practices.
Ethics and Communication of Yelp in 2015
In March of 2015, Kaylie Milliken, a local director, presented the trailer of her documentary Billion Dollar Bully that depicted Yelp as the company that uses the unethical practices to decrease the review ratings of businesses on the website if these businesses do not accept the advertising propositions or policies of Yelp (Wilson, 2015, para. 2). The trailer and the following discussions of the issue in the media had two important consequences for Yelp.
On the one hand, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman effectively reacted to the public discussions and addressed all questions of website users and businesses rated on Yelp. Mr. Stoppelman initiated the government and academic investigations in the field, and the ethical approach of Yelp was proven (Zara, 2015, para. 3).
In this context, the CEO’s reaction was immediate and efficient. On the other hand, the situation demonstrated certain weaknesses in the company’s communication with stakeholders that should be analyzed and addressed to prevent such situations in the long-term perspective.
Yelp is an actively developing company in the highly competitive Internet industry, and the situation observed in March of 2015 indicates the necessity of developing the communication with stakeholders with the focus on the corporate social responsibility (CSR). These actions are important to guarantee that stakeholders understand the activities of Yelp and those principles according to which the company operates (Blanding, 2011, p. 2; Zara, 2015).
It is possible to predict that rivals or detractors will try to ruin the company’s reputation in the future while referring to the case of March 2015. Therefore, it is significant to discuss the issue of the communication and development of public relations at the current stage of the company’s progress. Yelp has the great potential to address the website users and interested persons more actively while integrating new ethical rules in its communication.
Yelp’s Response to Public Expectations
The effective and immediate response of Mr. Stoppelman to the trailer Billion Dollar Bully demonstrates that currently, the company is focused on its corporate image. In addition, the protection of the customers’ interests is the priority for Yelp. Such conclusions are possible with references to the website users’ feedbacks on the scandal and Yelp’s response (Zara, 2015).
Nevertheless, the active reaction of the other group of the audience to the claims made by Kaylie Milliken in her documentary regarding the unethical nature of Yelp practices shows that there are certain gaps in the company’s communication with stakeholders, and the Public Relations (PR) specialists should pay more attention to monitoring the issue (Wilson, 2015).
In addition to the conducted investigations, it is important to concentrate on the analysis of the effects that the documentary Billion Dollar Bully can have on the public. The possible decreases in the company’s stocks associated with the documentary’s release and discussions of the ethical practices of Yelp in the media should also be analyzed to conclude regarding the public’s perceptions of the image of Yelp and its position in the conflict.
These above-mentioned aspects can be viewed as potential risks to the corporate reputation, and they should be monitored effectively. Such reaction to the problem can be appropriate because the stakeholders should understand that Yelp pays attention to any feedback regarding their activities in order to improve the experience of the customers and prevent detractors from unreasonably blaming the company.
While referring to the scandal around the release of Billion Dollar Bully, Yelp should answer a set of questions regarding the interviewees in the documentary, their real experiences with Yelp, the actual causes for their comments in the documentary, and their expectations (Carroll & Shabana, 2010).
From this point, the internal analysis of Yelp will demonstrate the company’s potential to address the issue, and the effective external or stakeholder analysis for Yelp will show what actions should be taken by PR specialists in order to overcome the issue consequences and predict similar problems in the future.
Internal Analysis of Yelp
Yelp is a company with the ten years’ experience, and the company’s focus is on serving the users’ needs for the adequate consumer reviews and unbiased information regarding the ratings of local companies.
In this context, the company can be discussed as having the right cultural DNA because the ethical culture of Yelp is directed to creating the positive environment for serving the website users’ needs (Lim & Van Der Heide, 2015). However, the media image of Yelp suffered significantly after the scandal of March 2015, and certain steps should be taken in order to regain the media popularity because this factor influences the stakeholders’ overall interest in the company’s activities.
Stakeholder Analysis
The external and stakeholder analysis demonstrates that Yelp addresses the wide public, and the company’s contribution to the environment includes the development of the local businesses and the progress of the local communities in terms of employment and increases in the customer loyalty.
However, in spite of the economic contribution of Yelp to the progress of societies, especially in San Francisco and Seattle, there is a limited contribution regarding the social and cultural development of these communities. In order to cover the gap, it is necessary to focus on prioritizing Yelp stakeholders.
The first group of the targeted audience includes local businesses and website users or customers who need to be monitored regularly. The focus is on their satisfaction with the work of the website and principles of determining the business ratings.
The creation of the value for this group is based on the ideas of transparency and accountability when businesses are aware of factors that can influence their rating on the website, and consumers know how their reviews can influence the ratings, and they use the website options in the ethical manner (Lim & Van Der Heide, 2015, p. 69).
The second group includes the communities and local public because the services of the website are oriented to the customers located in certain regions, and their needs should also be satisfied (Lim & Van Der Heide, 2015, p. 70). Such stakeholders as potential users or non-users whose opinion is also important for Yelp represent the third group, and they should be informed on the company’s progress.
Their perceptions of the website are based on the feedback in the media (Blanding, 2011, p. 2; Zara, 2015). Therefore, the other group includes the media that should be monitored because their messages can influence the reputation of Yelp directly, as it was in March of 2015.
Following the stakeholder analysis, it is possible to state that the main focus should be on building the positive relationships with businesses and consumers or active users of the website, and the interests of this group are the priority for the company. However, while referring to the scandal with Billion Dollar Bully, it is possible to state that the media and different sources of information for the public can influence the communication of Yelp with their stakeholders significantly.
As a result, the information in the media and opinions of non-users influence the overall image of the company, and this process can decrease the customer loyalty (Sodeman & Gibson, 2015, p. 265). In order to respond to the accusations of following the unethical practice, Yelp provided the media with the inside materials to state that the documentary is based on the falsified information (Wilson, 2015; Zara, 2015).
From this point, Yelp demonstrated that it follows the ethical principles of transparency and integrity while respecting their customers. The active cooperation with the media as stakeholders can provide Yelp with significant benefits to support the positive corporate image and avoid the further ethical scandals.
Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
The ethics and communication are important for the development of Yelp and attracting customers because the company’s operations are based on the idea of trustworthiness and openness (Blanding, 2011). Any negative feedbacks can affect the image of the company, and much attention should be paid to the advantages of CSR as the adequate approach to overcoming the potential ethical problems in Yelp.
It is necessary to state that the ethical value for stakeholders increases when the company aims at providing the customers and communities with the feeling of trust and support. The positive feature of the CSR initiatives is the provision of the concrete response to the stakeholders’ needs and interests (Browne & Nuttall, 2013; Keys, Malnight, & Graaf, 2009, p. 39).
Yelp works with different groups of stakeholders, and each group is characterized by the specific set of expectations that need to be carefully addressed and closely managed. The implementation of the developed CSR practice in Yelp has the potential benefits because of the specific characteristic features of these online services.
The website is oriented to work with the targeted public in concrete local areas (Blanding, 2011; Carroll & Shabana, 2010, p. 86). Therefore, Yelp can analyze the needs of concrete local communities and propose programs or services that can respond to the expectations of current and potential consumers directly.
The relationship between the company and stakeholders should be active not only in the online environment, and it is important for Yelp to demonstrate how the company can really contribute to the communities’ development.
From this point, the benefits of using the CSR are obvious, and the PR specialists are expected to accentuate the real connections between the website services, the followed ethical practices and principles of transparency and trust, the users’ activities, and the adequate ratings of businesses to increase their competitiveness in the concrete community.
While supporting the relationships with the academic and governmental investigators and exploring the problem of ethical practices in the online marketing, networking, and crowdsourcing, Yelp contributes to creating the value for those stakeholders who become interested in the company’s activities because they perceive Yelp as a company caring about their customers (Lim & Van Der Heide, 2015; Zara, 2015).
Ethics and the ‘Black Box’ Issue
Corporate social responsibility also includes using technologies and practices that cannot violate the website users’ rights and interests. From this point, the companies can focus on applying ethical approaches that are related to all website operations and processes. The problem is in the fact that critics of using specific algorithms for analyzing and filtering feedbacks and reviews on websites state that many companies use ‘black box’ systems that do not allow the efficient and honest use of the information (Ackerman, 2015).
As a result, the manipulation of the information can lead to violating the ethical norms. In the context of Yelp, the algorithms working to analyze the flow of reviews are effective to guarantee the reliability, integrity, and quality of selecting reviews and providing the ratings for businesses (Lim & Van Der Heide, 2015, p. 70).
However, to prevent the accusations regarding the use of ‘black box’ technologies in the future, it is important to integrate more principles of the CSR in the company. It is also critical to create the value for stakeholders and demonstrate that the company’s purpose is to address the interests of consumers and support the ethical and high-quality operations of local businesses to contribute to the social and economic development of communities.
Conclusion
Yelp is characterized by one of the highest flows of users among the review websites, and these rates need to be increased. The focus on the CSR and promotion of the company’s positive image through the effective communication, responses to the public concerns, and cooperation with the media are significant to keep the leading positions.
At the current stage, the achievements of Jeremy Stoppelman as the Yelp CEO are significant in the field, and this approach should be followed in the future. From this point, the CSR can be discussed as an important way to improve the networks of Yelp customers.
The CSR is a choice for those companies who plan to enhance their relationship with stakeholders while focusing on the real contribution to their interests and communities’ needs. In order to keep the position of the leader in local markets, it is reasonable for Yelp to adapt the CSR practices to the expectations of their target audience.
References
Ackerman, S. (2015). Newest cyber threat will be data manipulation, US intelligence chief says. The Guardian. Web.
Blanding, M. (2011). The Yelp factor: Are consumer reviews good for business. Harvard School of Business, 89(1), 1-2.
Browne, J., & Nuttall, R. (2013). Beyond corporate social responsibility: Integrated external engagement. Web.
Carroll, A. B., & Shabana, K. M. (2010). The business case for corporate social responsibility: A review of concepts, research and practice. International Journal of Management Reviews, 12(1), 85-105.
Keys, T., Malnight, T. W., & Graaf, K. (2009). Making the most of corporate social responsibility. McKinsey Quarterly, 36(1), 38-44.
Lim, Y. S., & Van Der Heide, B. (2015). Evaluating the wisdom of strangers: The perceived credibility of online consumer reviews on Yelp. Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, 20(1), 67-82.
Sodeman, W. A., & Gibson, L. A. (2015). Corporate usage of social media and social networking services in the USA. In L. Wang & S. Uesugi (Eds.), Multidisciplinary social networks research (pp. 264-278). New York, NY: Springer.
Wilson, T. (2015). Yelp accused of unethical business practices in documentary. Web.
Zara, C. (2015). Yelp fights to avoid a ‘blackfish’ moment: Documentary Kickstarter puts tech firm on defense. Information Business Times. Web.
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