3. Yelp is replacing the Better Business Bureau.
A customer who complains about you to the Better Business Bureau is effectively irrelevant. That complaint may hurt your pride but it will rarely hurt your pocketbook.

But if you own a service business, your score on Yelp.com will directly impact your finances. Brad Casebier, a plumber buddy of mine, tells me that a single bad review on YELP cost him $2,000 per week until it finally migrated off the page. Sadly, the snarling woman-without-a-life who posted that negative review did so without even contacting Brad to give him a chance to correct the problem.

Yes, the technology that empowers the “we” generation has a dark side, as well.

And that dark side may get even darker.