I’ll have the salmon….

No matter how many companies learn and adapt to the way social media has changed their businesses, there will always be a few who stand and steadfastly refuse to accept the changes. 

While I understand in some small way the reticence of some  companies to adopt, say, a company-wide blogging platform as their first foray into social media (that is a big step), I honestly do not understand a café owner putting up a sign stating “No Yelpers!” Yelp is an online local review site, where apparently some (now banned) customers had posted bad reviews. You would think that anyone involved in the foodservice or hospitality industry would be aware of the implications of a negative review, and would take steps to improve their service upon receiving one.

Techdirt once again hits the nail on the head, saying:

This is effectively saying that the shop owner has no interest in what its customers think of it, has no interest in improving the quality of service and doesn’t seem to realize that this will only encourage anyone who has a bad experience to go to Yelp and post about it. In fact, putting this sign in the window seems likely to damage the reputation of the cafe a lot more than any bad review on Yelp.

I suppose this could be some weird contrarian method of getting publicity (hey, I am writing about it), but my guess is that this shop owner has no idea that he’s simply fanning the flames with this move. It would be far wiser for him to monitor the forums, and use the insights gained to improve his café.