Google's Late to the Party Again With Yelp Rival "Hotpot"

By Michelle Woo Wed., Nov. 17 2010 at 5:10 PM

Categories: News

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With the new Google Hotpot (often misspelled as Hotspot, which would actually make more sense), users review restaurants and other local businesses, and are given recommendations for more places to check out based on what they and their friends seem to like. It's clean, well-designed and very Google-esque.

The only problem?

No one is gonna use the thing.

(Also, Hotpot is a lame name. Mmmm, is anyone else thinking of something Korean, red and spicy?)

Social media writers have called Hotpot a Yelp rival, but in the same way that Google Buzz tried to challenge Facebook, the service just seems a little like Nemo trying to take on Michael Phelps. I typed in "Costa Mesa," and after giving four stars to Memphis and writing that I liked their gumbo, I just felt bored, and kind of lonely.

Google should stick to that whole search engine thing--and controlling of every other segment of my internet life.

Have you tried Hotpot? What do you think?

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JB: Nicely put!
And I agree with "American" that Yelp's ratings and reviews are completely unreliable. Yelp reviewers are mostly 20somethings with agendas and biases and a lack of worldliness to properly assess things. If someone in an elevator asked me to describe Yelp, I'd basically say it's a bunch of young guys who'll go to a crawfish place and whose review will consist of some self-serving line like: "I came. I saw. I conquered." Oh really? And, um...what did you think of the food? The service? The atmosphere? The only thing Yelp is really good for is the photos (of the food items, etc.).
Diamond Dog, I admit that lately, I rarely read Fast Food Maven (mostly because I can only torture myself just so much). But when I think of that 'blog', I think of regurgitated press releases with no added data or point-of-view (even subliminal). I think of "throw the spaghetti against the wall" journalism...undisciplined, with no editorial sense of what's actually newsworthy. And the writing is often terrible...choppy and littered with grammatical errors. If she's getting some scoops and venturing into offbeat dining topics, I welcome it. But I feel like I know her too well and she doesn't seem like she's really capable of it in any sustained manner. Just like (most people) look to the police to restore order after a public incident, I look to my journalists to guide me and offer inspirational perspectives. I don't want to "buddy up" to them, and their credibility suffers greatly if they are openly asking readers for input. Put another way, my comment to Michelle Woo is: this isn't some lame Web site for clueless suburban moms who clip coupons. This is Stick a Fucking Fork in It, a food blog universe populated by the county's finest and most serious foodies...on both sides of the keyboard. Don't ask me questions. Tell me things with a decisive point of view that I may not always agree with, but I'll respect you for. If not, get a job at Real Simple magazine engaging your readers in a dialogue about tips on how to store turkey leftovers.
Yelp sucks now... extortion tactics aside. If a place does not cater to every whim of the uber narcissistic Asian OC girls in their early 20s (they make up about 90% of the yelp users), then the overall rating will suffer greatly. A usual 4 star place could drop down to 1 or 2 stars.
JB: I don't understand all the hate regarding Fast Food Maven. I want to hate her and her staff, but I am having a hard time. I met her at Bruxie (where she scooped the OC Weekly) and she had the personality of an disenchanted wet rag. The OC Register was always perceived by me as so mainstraim, but lately its been getting better....her blog and Food Frenzy But just look at her posts for the last few days VS SaFII. She scooped ANAL LORE on the closure of Black Sheep Bistro. She announced all kinds of deals from local stores that readers can benefit from. Lots of write ups on restaurant openings. A good story about a man who won a texting contest at Rubio's that only has one arm $6.00 coupon for all the readers at a grocery store they could all use in these tough times. An Article about how canned beer making a comeback. Lack of hostility between her and her readers and lack of political agendas in her write ups. The list goes on an on. I don't work for OC Register, believe it or not, nor am I affiliated with them in anyway. SaFII needs new leadership, plain and simple.
EastBay: Thanks for the link! It confirmed what I have heard from restaurant owners. So why don't other review sites like Hotpot Michelle is writing about take off? Why isn't their more publicity about Yelp's extortion techniques?
Michelle, PLEASE don't end your posts with questions for your readers. This is the (usually) readable and educational and insightful and provocative Stick A Fork in It...not "Fast Food Maven." Believe me...the readership here will tell you what we're thinking, with no prompting needed. I guarantee you that. Thanks and have a great night.
Here's one of the original stories from Feb. 2009 about this: http://www.eastbayexpress.com/eastbay/yelp-and-the-business-of-extortion-20/Content?oid=1176635
Has anyone ever spoke to a restaurant owner that has been approached by Yelp? I have heard their sales people are quite aggressive I have heard that if you PAY, yelp will do things like make the negative comments less visible, make positive comments easier to appear, etc. Does anyone have specifics or any insight into this?