Since we are fairly new in the East Bay, I decided to look at one of the city guides. Even though I had never heard of Yelp! I gave it a shot and typed in our city and zip code. We have the distinction of being close to two very trendy areas, the Solano Ave. section of Albany, and all of Berkeley. Most of the businesses recommended were from one of those areas, although I did spot of few from EC.
With so many restaurants in the area, this was great. I've used the Berkeley Parents Network in the past for business recommendations (plumbers, mechanics, etc.) but Yelp! seemed to have much more in the way of food and entertainment. What I especially like is the fact that these are real people reviewing these places. While I don't know if I would ever just trust ONE review, many of the businesses have four or more, making it much more reliable, IMHO.
I also found the List section, where individuals review tons of places. Clearly these folks have way more free time than I do, but I certainly appreciate the effort they've put in. It's easy to click on the business and see all its reviews. This is totally perfect for people new to an area, or someone just trying to get out of her rut.
As soon as the kiddo heads back to college, hubby and I will need to start doing some serious exploring. The only downside I can see is that we'll end up thinking we have discretionary money, when we still need to be careful until Sarah finishes her BA.
This probably wouldn't be that useful in my high school library setting, but it would be a useful link for the public library.
I joined the Ning network "Library Youth and Teen Services 2.0." It doesn't look like it's very active, but the topic is perfect for me. I'll watch it for awhile, then maybe join some more active ones. I'm not really sure I get Ning. It sort of reminds me of MySpace organized by subjects; another thing to keep up with in my busy day.
View my profile on Library Youth and Teen Services 2.0
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