Appetites: Meet one of the super-users driving Yelp
That the Internet has changed the way we eat is an understatement. With a few clicks, you can order groceries, have dinner delivered, even buy direct from the farmer.
Trying to find a place to eat out has changed, too. Thanks to online review sites like Yelp, instead of asking friends and family members for recommendations, we increasingly rely on advice from local strangers.
Most Internet users are familiar with Yelp, but you might not realize there is a group of super-users — called the "Elite Squad" — whose content keeps the review engine running.
Jonathan Truong recently took a job working for Yelp, and is now in Atlanta coordinating that city's Elite Squad for the company. Before that he was himself a member of the Twin Cities' Elite Squad.
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Truong started out like any other Yelp user. "At night I used to Yelp about places I really loved," he said.
After being a regular Yelper for a while, he was nominated by a friend and was eventually added to the Twin Cities Elite Squad. Truong, who was recently profiled in Minnesota Monthly, describes the Elite Squad as a "community of Yelp's most engaged users."
Anybody can be a part of the Yelp Elite Squad, but a person must apply and then be approved by the Yelp Elite Council. The council considers a user's profile and whether the information he or she is submitting to Yelp is helpful for other users.
Elite Squad members aren't paid, but do enjoy perks: Yelp hosts events that connects them with business owners and each other. Truong said that feeling of community is one of the attractions of being on the squad. "People like to talk about what's hot and what's not," he said.
Truong said the emphasis on consumer-submitted content is one of Yelp's strengths. All reviews are vetted through the website's recommendation software, which determines whether reviews are reliable and useful. Things that won't fly: reviews that have been solicited by businesses, or those that are simply rants or raves and do not include useful content.
The website also requires that people review regularly. "Yelp is not a drive-by site," Truong said. "[And] we also have a community of Yelpers that help police the reviews."
It's the passion of Yelp users and super-users that keeps sites like Yelp going, said Truong: "We have locals telling the stories of different businesses. That's really changing how consumers are spending their dollars."
Truong's Twin Cities picks
Here are three restaurants in the Twin Cities that Truong misses most after his move to Atlanta:
• My Huong