General Business: Yelp, Judy's Book, Insider Pages...

Yelp, Judy's Book, Insider Pages...

Do you American's use any of them? Why/why not? What's cool/What's not?

google maps is actually using these sites to get the ratings that they post on their business search results.

they are a good way for local businesses to leverage their satisfied customers. I even ask mine to post a review if they've told me they were happy with our service.

I also think it's good for people who move around they can find a reliable mechanic or whatever based on a third party review.

Depends. For something like a restaurant review, the name of the restaurant usually brings back what I'm after on the first page.

For movie reviews I go back and forth between the search results and Google News.

For product reviews, which is probably the type of review I'm after most often, Google seems to be the best solution.

If there were a site that aggregated all of the review and feedback sites/communities I might consider using it instead, but for now, Google pretty much does that with a few manufacturer and spam pages slipped in here and there.

I'd call a friend

Look at this SCREAMIN deal on Judy's

Yelp seems cool actually but for a city like Spokane, which is not large, but not small either, there just aren't enough users so it's a waste of time for me.

I remember reading about a company a while back, that creates books/guides for tourists for each of the major destinations. But they don't focus on the major landmarks or tours, they use thousands of people around the world to find the small and hidden treasures.

So best Chinese restaurant you've never heard of, where to find the coolest postcards, etc...

I could see a website that did that same type of guiding for major locales take off.

You had to order at least 5 books, which were each hand made and cost about $25 or $40.

I think it might be able to, if done for fifty or a hundred major spots around the world. Would sure as hell create an awesome community.