I do spend an awful lot of time on this Internet thing - be it here on the Blog, or on the BT Website, or surfing for recipes or campsites or wine, or just reading other Blogs or ChowHound Chats or whatever. A lot of time. (You have to wonder, what did we do with all this time before we were hooked up to our computers?) After I did the web page this past spring, I worked hard to get it to a top placement in the Google search engine (we compete there with a restaurant in DC called "Colonel Brooks Tavern" that suffered a murder on premise not long ago, and consequently gets a lot of the top dog placement, due to the publicity that event generated). Eventually it came up first... Of course, in the interest of the restaurant, I continue to Google "brooks tavern" to see what pops up. Well, there are a couple more coming up now - reviews from Travelocity and Yahoo. Interesting.
Here's the link to the one on Yahoo.
I share this with you in it's entire negativity. The first "review" is an unknown cyber critic; the second is actually someone I know (thanks, Kelly, for the thumbs up!). As soon as I came across the criticism I had to respond. And that is the beauty of it - I can respond, and put my own opinion out there just like anyone else. (***Note: Although as of 11/21, it looks as though someone at Yahoo has removed my "comment on the review", which is sort of interesting, is it not? Was it restaurantchoser who removed it? or Yahoo themselves? hmmm....I guess I will meet the challange and respond again...later***). I have read a lot about the plus and minuses of the Internet restaurant reviewers - from Yelp, to Chowhound, to eGullet. Reviewers in newspapers and magazines - so-called legitimate reviewers - complain that these cyber critics could be anyone, from the staff and owners of the business, to a competitor trying to knock them down a notch. Yet I regularly check these sites when I am looking for a restaurant to patronize or a hotel to stay in, just like everyone else. Occasionally you do get the feeling that the participant in the chat may be an insider (or outsider, as the case may be), but if there are plenty of comments on a place, you can use your own (good) judgment in deciding yay or nay.
All of this being said, I realize that Cyber Reviews are here to stay. And at least I have the opportunity to respond in the same format as the detractor, something that certainly isn't possible with a printed review.
It is all new territory, and as a business owner I feel compelled to continue to Google "brooks tavern" and defend our record from the Cyber Masses! Onward and Clickward!!
Here's the link to the one on Yahoo.
I share this with you in it's entire negativity. The first "review" is an unknown cyber critic; the second is actually someone I know (thanks, Kelly, for the thumbs up!). As soon as I came across the criticism I had to respond. And that is the beauty of it - I can respond, and put my own opinion out there just like anyone else. (***Note: Although as of 11/21, it looks as though someone at Yahoo has removed my "comment on the review", which is sort of interesting, is it not? Was it restaurantchoser who removed it? or Yahoo themselves? hmmm....I guess I will meet the challange and respond again...later***). I have read a lot about the plus and minuses of the Internet restaurant reviewers - from Yelp, to Chowhound, to eGullet. Reviewers in newspapers and magazines - so-called legitimate reviewers - complain that these cyber critics could be anyone, from the staff and owners of the business, to a competitor trying to knock them down a notch. Yet I regularly check these sites when I am looking for a restaurant to patronize or a hotel to stay in, just like everyone else. Occasionally you do get the feeling that the participant in the chat may be an insider (or outsider, as the case may be), but if there are plenty of comments on a place, you can use your own (good) judgment in deciding yay or nay.
All of this being said, I realize that Cyber Reviews are here to stay. And at least I have the opportunity to respond in the same format as the detractor, something that certainly isn't possible with a printed review.
It is all new territory, and as a business owner I feel compelled to continue to Google "brooks tavern" and defend our record from the Cyber Masses! Onward and Clickward!!
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