Yelp

The atmosphere is so cool and the fish is like amazing, it melts in your mouth. Yeah, you’re really going to love it. Ok bye. Well that’s one way to give your two cents on a restaurant but if you want to take your recommendations to the next level then Yelp is the way to do it. Let’s check out this recommendation sensation. Life is crazy. I mean who has time to keep up with all the latest in social networking. I’m Carly Knoblach and if you stick with me I’ll show you all the tech tools you need to get socially connected. It’s date night – woo! Dinner and a movie. But before I make my reservation I want to know if this place is any good so the first stop is Yelp. Yelp is website and a mobile app that has reviews on everything from restaurants to auto repairs so you can always see what others have to say. Plus I love to help my fellow restaurant goers as well and Yelp lets me share my expert opinions with the entire world. Best of all, because Yelp is on my mobile phone it knows exactly where I am at all times so it will tailor recommendations accordingly. Ok before date night I need to find a place for my dog to get a bath today so I’m just going to search on Yelp for local places and see what people had to say about them. I can refine my search even more by clicking here. These stars are the rankings so I generally start with the ones with the most stars but I also look at how many people have reviewed the business. If it’s a positive review but only one reviewer well then I got to take that into consideration. Beyond the star rating I can read reviews, see pictures and business hours and other important information. Now I can email this to a friend or event text the listing which is great because it gives me or the person I sent it to a quick way check it out on the go. But by far the most popular use of Yelp has been restaurants and having it on my mobile phone has been a life saver when I’m traveling. Just last week I was in Toronto and I needed to find a kid friendly restaurant that was near our hotel and didn’t break the bank so I just whipped out my phone and a few taps later I had a great place and a map to help us get there. Like other social networks you can complement someone’s review and even friend people whose reviews you trust. Ok back to my date night. I found this sushi place I know he’s going to love but good or bad I know I’m going to want to leave a review on Yelp. So the first step when we get to the restaurant is to check in. To check in I’ll just push this button here and then when I’m ready I’ll kick into food critic mode and draft a review. Here’s a little bit of a nuisance. You can draft a review at a restaurant but in order to post that review you do need to go to the website. So if you love getting opinions about all the places you that you want to go or if you like leaving your two cents then you’re going to love Yelp. Oh, that’s a lot of two cents. I guess my opinions are super valuable. To learn about even more ways that you can share your opinion check out our other videos on eHow Tech and be sure to like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Thanks for watching!