Yelp allows businesses to respond to reviews

Yesterday, Yelp announced that businesses will be able to respond to reviews. According to the NY Times: 

"Starting next week, Yelp will let small-business owners publicly respond to reviews. This is a big change for the site, which has until now steadfastly refused to give businesses significant access to its pages. 
 
Yelp’s co-founder and chief executive, Jeremy Stoppelman, has said that to protect the voice of the consumer, the voices of businesses, many of which advertise on the site, had to be muted."  

 As a member of the multifamily community, I am excited for communication and interaction between businesses and consumers.  Businesses will have a voice and a way to depend and refute inaccurate and unfair content.  

However, there are dangers involved with going down this route.  The slippery slope of rebuttaling can actually cause more damage to your reputation than the original negative comment.  By adding fuel to the fire, you can convert a simple dissatisfied customer into a flamer.  

Additionally, the integrity of the content may be altered.  The "hovering affect" may occur where users are no longer writing transparent and honest reviews.  As a consumer, I want honest opinions, not opinions when the business owner is standing in the room.   

But overall, I think it is a great move by Yelp to allow businesses to openly communicate with critics and reviewers, beneficial for businesses and consumers alike. Businesses can refute inaccurate and unfair information, consumers will still continue to review regardless, and communicate will occur between the two parties.  In the end, the feedback loop and interaction will hopefully help businesses owners create more value and serve consumers better.

What do you think?