In summer of 2004, the idea for Yelp was born. Twenty seven countries, fourteen Hackathons, six offices, more than 2,100 employees, thousands of local Yelp events, countless cups of coffee, and two Colbert bumps later, we have officially reached our 10 year milestone. Who would have thought that a simple idea to bring word-of-mouth recommendations online would become a tool used by millions of people worldwide to discover great local businesses?
Jeremy and Darwin, 2004 and now
Since Yelp was created, more than 61 million rich, local reviews have been contributed to the site (it would take you about 96 years, 10 months and 20 days to read them all, but don’t worry, that’s why we have review highlights!). To wrap our heads around the depth and breadth of data Yelp has collected over the past decade, we put together an infographic to celebrate our journey – from major milestones, to fun facts, and everything in between.
Ten years of Yelp, visualized (click to enlarge)
- Yelpers love to snap pics, with about 24,000 photos uploaded via Yelp’s mobile apps every day (as of Q2 2014) and the most “photogenic” business being Bottega Louie in Los Angeles
- It’s no secret that Yelpers love to eat, but they also love to treat themselves to the occasional spa visit. “Nail salon” is one of the top 15 searches on Yelp!
- We can’t forget about those businesses with a little “local flavor” – in fact, we have a whole category for them. The Corn Palace in South Dakota (quite literally a palace made of corn) claims the #1 spot for “local flavor” in the whole state.
Yelp has always been about connecting people both online and off, so we had to ring in the big 1-0 with our dedicated community of Yelpers. Just last weekend, we celebrated our 10 year anniversary in the city where it all started, San Francisco. Yelpers from all around the world flew to the Golden State to be a part of the action. Events were held all weekend long throughout the Bay Area, including a Gold Soirée at our headquarters, attended by our Gold Elite members (that’s Elites who’ve held the coveted badge for five years!).
But the celebration didn’t end there. From Barcelona to Tulsa to Miami and beyond, passionate Yelpers from all around the world came together to celebrate a decade’s worth of Yelping. Over in Philadelphia, outstanding Yelpers and local businesses were awarded “Yelpies,” while other communities, like Yelp Lille, celebrated their respective “burst” days.
L to R, clockwise: Philadelphia CM awarding a “Yelpie”; A 10th birthday cake in Lille, France; Tucson Yelpers showing off the #10YearsofYelp love; Posing with some Yelpers at the Gold Soirée in San Francsico
It’s been quite a ride, and we want to give a big thanks to all of you, the Yelpers, for bringing this idea to life. Yelp would not exist without its community of passionate locals who are dedicated to discovering the best of their city and sharing their experiences with others. Thanks for a great first decade. Here's to the next #10YearsOfYelp!
