I am sort of amazed how much power the social media restaurant review websites Urbanspoon and Yelp have with foodies. A low percentile of “Likes It” or stars on these websites can force a restaurant out of business, and these unpaid reviewers are harsh. I’ve seen restaurants that I enjoy skewered for anything from undercooked chicken to inattentive waiters to television noise in the back kitchen—and that isn’t saying anything about the terrible reviews of mediocre restaurants. With the nasty power of Internet anonymity and unaccountability, how seriously do you take reviews from websites like these?

Certainly, sites like these can eliminate the middleman of a newspaper or paid blogger (who often have outside incentives to write positive reviews for restaurants and the like). The direct communication between Yelpers can be a positive. Users of these sites feel that they can be directly responsible for keeping a restaurant open or closing it, perhaps paradoxically making restaurants accountable for continuing or upping their quality. One-time positive reviews from newspapers or magazines can keep restaurants in business for years, despite declining standards. Yelp reviews are always current.

Additionally, Harvard Business School says that Yelp.com helps independent, local eateries to draw customers away from major chains. The study shows that a one-star increase for a restaurant can cause a 5-9% increase in business for the local restaurant. Alternately, chain restaurants saw no increase or decrease in business from a positive or negative reviews. For cities flush with local restaurants and consumers on the hunt for these businesses, sites like these can be valuable tools for publicity impossible with traditional review sources.

Alternately, reviews on these sites are nothing if not inconsistent. One reviewer will rave about a restaurant, citing favorite dishes and excellent service. The next reviewer will completely disagree, often calling into question the judgment or sanity of the reviewer before him, saying that the restaurant wasn’t worth the money for the mediocre food. Similar to traditional reviews, it’s hard to tell these reviewers’ biases, their relationship with these restaurants and their experience with worldly cuisines or different types of restaurants. Unlike traditional reviews, however, these reviewers never mince words, seemingly wanting to crush the clientele for mom and pop restaurants everywhere. I try to only read review averages, but I find myself sucked into the written reviews, wondering, why do I like this apparently terrible place?

Are you a Yelper or do you follow Urbanspoon? How seriously do you take the restaurant reviews on these websites?