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3 Stars on Yelp, 4 Stars on Google Maps: A Cross-Platform Examination of Restaurant Ratings

Published: 05 January 2021 Publication History
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  • Abstract

    Even though a restaurant may receive different ratings across review platforms, people often see only one rating during a local search (e.g. 'best burgers near me'). In this paper, we examine the differences in ratings between two commonly used review platforms-Google Maps and Yelp. We found that restaurant ratings on Google Maps are, on average, 0.7 stars higher than those on Yelp, with the increase being driven in large part by higher ratings for chain restaurants on Google Maps. We also found extensive diversity i¬¬n top-ranked restaurants by geographic region across platforms. For example, for a given metropolitan area, there exists little overlap in its top ten lists of restaurants on Google Maps and Yelp. Our results problematize the use of a single review platform in local search and have implications for end users of ratings and local search technologies. We outline concrete design recommendations to improve communication of restaurant evaluation and discuss the potential causes for the divergence we observed.

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      Published In

      cover image Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction
      Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction  Volume 4, Issue CSCW3
      CSCW
      December 2020
      1825 pages
      EISSN:2573-0142
      DOI:10.1145/3446568
      Issue’s Table of Contents
      Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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      Association for Computing Machinery

      New York, NY, United States

      Publication History

      Published: 05 January 2021
      Published in PACMHCI Volume 4, Issue CSCW3

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      Author Tags

      1. local search
      2. multi-site research
      3. restaurant reviews
      4. user-generated content

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      • (2023)A Narrative Review of Factors Affecting the Implementation of Privacy and Security Practices in Software DevelopmentACM Computing Surveys10.1145/358995155:14s(1-27)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2023
      • (2023)Urban restaurants and online food delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic: a spatial and socio-demographic analysisInternational Journal of Digital Earth10.1080/17538947.2023.221031316:1(1725-1751)Online publication date: 12-May-2023
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