As the internet increasingly expands into almost every aspect of the modern world, many new services have been created, some that have possibly amassed to much power. Yelp, an online review website started in 2004, allows its users to leave reviews for every establishment imaginable. While the concept of instant virtual reviews appears to be harmless, many people commonly use it to leave harsh, negative reviews. As Yelp has dominated the market of review programs, becoming the most popular service around the country, a positive or negative review on Yelp now has the capability to make or break a business.

A large majority of the population uses Yelp to dictate their consumerism, based on a one to five-star scale. One of these people is AHS Spanish teacher, Alex Reginelli, who strictly uses Yelp to browse restaurant options and avoids leaving reviews.

“I don’t actually write reviews on Yelp, I use it as a basis for recommendations. I mainly use it when I am in larger cities or unfamiliar places, when I am looking for a place to eat or another type of business,” Reginelli said. “Commonly I use it to discover new places to eat, new types of cuisine, and different environments. So generally I use Yelp to direct my business to shops or restaurants that have good reviews and will avoid those with low ratings.”

While many consumers use Yelp to discover new restaurants and to try new things, those within the restaurant business will find that it is simply another obstacle within the already brutal industry. Nick Spicer, a sophomore at AHS, has seen firsthand the effects that Yelp can have on a small, family-owned business.

“A few years ago my aunt started a small local bakery with a few of her friends. The business did not start well because neither my aunt or her friends were business pros. So to get the word out they registered their business on Yelp,” Spicer said. “Surprisingly they saw an increase in customers and couldn’t make enough food fast enough. The three of them were overworked and they were lacking decent customer service. So some of their customers began to leave some bad reviews on Yelp, and they lost around half of their customers within a week.”

While there are several benefits of using Yelp, in past few years it has become heavily relied upon, controlling consumer trends based on current reviews. Often businesses who are hurt by Yelp have only received one or two degrading reviews. AHS junior, Sassy Geisbert believes that a single interview shouldn’t decide the future of a business and that every business deserves a second chance.

“I think that people should only use Yelp to find new places to eat or shop and ignore the negative reviews. Just because one person had a bad experience doesn’t mean that the business should be boycotted,” Geisbert said. “I believe that everyone deserves a second chance, including businesses and I hope that people will start to recognize that a negative review can do a lot more harm than good. ”