Listings

Yelp lists information about places of business. To access these listings, users can either navigate using the links displayed on the home page or carry out a search. Using the search bar displayed on the site, users can enter the type of establishment they are looking for -- such as a restaurant or shop -- and the location in which they are searching. Yelp presents a list of businesses and organizations for the required search with the name, address and an overview of the reviews for the listing in question. Users can click through to see more details for any listed establishment, which can include opening hours, attributes and a map showing the location. Businesses can submit information about their own services by signing up for a Yelp account.

Reviews

Users submit the reviews on Yelp. Each listing is displayed alongside an overview of the rating voted for by users, which is graded out of five stars. Each Yelp listing also includes any reviews submitted, with each review including a rating out of five and a text description of the user's experience. Users provide a varying amount of detail in their reviews. The user reviews are themselves rated by other Yelp users, who can vote to label reviews as "useful," "funny" or "cool."

Social

Yelp has a range of built-in social features. Each user review is listed with an overview of the user and a link to the person's profile. User profiles include names, photos, location information and an overview of their activity on the site. Users can be listed as friends of other users. The ability for users to interact with one another through Yelp gives the site a social dimension. Browsing users' profiles gives an indicator of their activity and can also link to listings for other establishments they have reviewed, as well as linking to other users. Yelp users making regular contributions to the service can apply to become part of the Elite Squad, which offers enhanced social features including invitations to local events.

Interfaces

In addition to the Yelp website, smartphone users can access Yelp using the apps for their platform, with apps available for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry. This lets users submit and access reviews while in mobile environments. The Yelp mobile apps exploit localization features in mobile devices, using GPS to provide information relevant to the user's current location.