Lou MC Yelps a Lot

This is part of my Yelp Workshop during the Zoom Zoom 100 & Beyond UYE . We are going to talk about the features on the Yelp app (Android) and website. Houston Yelp Houston First of all, I have no affiliation with Yelp. Second of all, I am not getting paid by anyone to represent Yelp. Most of all, #iYELPaLOT. I love to share what I know about Yelp and help Yelpers to get the most out of this app. Once you know how things work, it will be more fun to Yelp about. Featured topics: Friend or Follow Missed You on Yelp Yelfie 101 Yelp Cash Back Yelp List on App Auto-Friending Feature (website) Where's my Badge Last 90 Days Stats Send to Phone (website) Yelp Talks The Local Yelp (fka The Weekly Yelp ) If you want to create a list for Yelp Challenge, please be sure to bring your user name and password to login to my laptop. Or, you can bring your laptop and you can use my mobile hotspot to connect to the internet.

Mike M has been hosting BOTM “Burger of the Month” UYE since last February. This was from a Talk thread when Rachel B returned from her ACRONYM meeting in 2015.  After a long gap in Houston, BOTM was born. First few months, they were hosted by Rachel B. Then, Belly G, Jamie A finally, Mike M. This mock up t-shirt was an idea to generate interest.  Here is a quick overview of his 12 successful BOTM's. The attendance has increased month after month. It has became a popular and well-known event in Houston. UYE Page in… Event Page February 2017 UYE: February Burger of the Month @ Rachels Cafe January 2017 UYE: January Burger of the Month@Stanton's City Bites December 2016 UYE: December BOTM @ Bernie's Burger Bus November 2016 UYE: November BOTM @ Killen's Burgers October 2016 UYE: Burger of the Month@Little Bigs September 2016 UYE: September Burge...

I would love to nominate Belly G as Yelper of the Year in Houston, if there is a place for it. We've been to Indonesia, Peru, Bosnia, Poland, Ethiopia & Belgium. This brilliant man with plenty of ideas started the World Travel UYE since January 2016. Every month, the world travelers went from one country to another trying different cuisines without leaving Houston. Check out the chart below for the places we've been to so far. Event Page Reviews 01/16/16 UYE: Around The World @ Rice Bowl II - Indonesia 02/06/16 UYE: Around The World @ La Guitarra Con Sazon - Peru 03/09/16 UYE: Around The World @ Cafe Pita - Bosnian 04/20/16 UYE: Around The World @ Polonia Restaurant - Poland 05/18/16 UYE: Around The World @ Lucy Restaurant - Ethiopia 06/15/16 UYE: Around The World @ Cafe Brussels - Belgium 07/21/16 UYE: Around The World @ Emporio Brazilian Cafe Stay tuned w...

It's been in my wildest dream to host a Cross+Cities UYE with a road trip. I always want to try something exotic, exciting and unique to link Yelpers across the Lone Star state. From Houston to San Antonio takes about 3 hours. After reading a blog  Seattle & Portland Yelpers Swap Cities Road Trip , I posted my idea on a  Talk thread . I found Phillip B of Austin hosted a BBQ Crawl UYE in Lockhart on July 26, 2014. Yelpers from Houston, San Antonio and Austin (maybe Dallas) met at the center of these major cities. That was an epic. ( Reviews ) I am not able to pull something like his scale without Yelpers from other cities. In November 2015, I hosted a  Cross+Cities UYE - Austin Edition . Since I didn't have many Yelper friends in Austin, we had a small party. ( Reviews ) After my recent trip to San Antonio, I saw the city's beauty and tourism opportunity. I want to revisit the idea. I am hoping the Yelpers in San Antonio could help me put to...

I discovered this feature on my Android phone by accident. Since the role out of beta version 8.7.0, I posted a photo on the Yelp Android Beta Tester Community on March 28. It's pretty neat to see it on an Android app. Let's compare them: Go to the Talk with lots of links. Click on one of the links and watch it on your phone.  See? Android on the left; iPhone on the right.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to announce this year's Asian Heritage Month UYE in Houston. It's my pleasure to introduce the growing popular UYE year after year, besides my Lunar New Year celebration. In the past 2 years, we've dined at Thai/Chinese @ Thai Jin  in 2014 and Vietnamese @ Pho Binh 59  in 2015. I want to bring Asian Heritage to Chinatown this year. I want to showcase a few of my favorite businesses with my Chinatown Crawl UYE model - Dine, Dessert & Shop on one day. Do you know any of these regional food types in Houston? Dine - The main focus of the evening is eat authentic noodle soup at  Strings Noodle . You get to watch how the hand-pulled noodles are made in front of your eyes.  Shop - we are climbing a few steps above Strings to shop at  Fit Japanese Store .  Dessert - we are going to Six Ping Bakery next door. After that, I'll guide you to find tapioca drink among 10 bubble tea joints at Dun Huang Plaza. ...

Know where you parked is important After my HoustonRodeo visit last year, I wanted to try  HoustonRodeo on a Budget , I decided to go even cheaper - Value Wednesday. The admissions are at half price for both ground and rodeo/concert every Wednesday. Kids carnival and wine garden were not affected by this change. I have never thought there was so many people around NRG Stadium on a Wednesday afternoon. I blame it on Spring Break. I had no problem finding parking at a nearby lot. However, I paid $15 at Medical center. It's very close by and only available after 5 pm. Afterwards, I learned there were other cheaper lots a little further out. From the moment I entered the lot, parked my car, walked to shuttle stop and to the bus taken off, it took around 45 minutes. During the afternoon commute hours, travel time was about 20 minutes on a 5 minute route. All of these are compensated from daylight savings time - I've got one extra hour of sunlight. I had to buy admission t...

All of the sudden, my Yelp friend list got so big. Wait, who the #%$* and that *#@$ from my Facebook are now my Yelp friends. Then, I went checking on my settings. Oh, no, I don't like this idea. I want this feature to be permanently un-checked. Not everyone on my Facebook with a Yelp account is Yelp active. In fact, my Yelp friends on Facebook is more active than those Facebook friends with Yelp account in general. I keep my Yelp friend list small is because the ease of sending invitations to my UYE's and other events. The current process is very time consuming, unless HQ changes the invitation style. I created a  step by step instruction on my blog . I guess HQ was responding to some people complained about they still having trouble to invite FB friends. Then, I noticed the request screen has changed. Below is a capture from desktop compared to the app, The request from Facebook appeared differently. I'm happy to get my control back.

This is the beginning of a new concept to event planning. I welcome your comments and suggestions to make this Chinatown Crawl UYE possible. Please post your reply here or on the Talk thread . I have been the Baron of Chinatown on Yelp for over a year. I can't say I'm the expert with restaurants, but I could help you discover the best of Chinatown. Even if I don't know, I can try to find the answer for you. Where's Chinatown? Most people refer to just the businesses on Bellaire Blvd, from Gessner to Beltway. But in reality, it covers one huge area being the most diverse Super-neighborhoods in Houston. Yelp defined this Chinatown neighborhood On the Chinatown Crawl UYE, I want to take you one strip mall at a time. You can experience different Chinese regional cuisine, popular dessert items and a show-n-tell of what you can find at a grocery store. The following is a list of existing strip malls: Welcome Center 惠康廣場 - 9180 Bellaire Blvd Diho Plaza  頂好廣場 ...

First of all, I am not affiliated with Yelp and I write reviews on Yelp for fun. Secondly, I don't ask for special treatment from businesses because I write reviews for fun. Third, I am a hard-core Elite Yelper. I always encourage Yelpers to write reviews. Now, let’s go to the featured presentation. Many ideas created this UYE . Since my ROTD (Review of the Day) on 2/11/2014, I have been a regular customer to Eatwell Bakery Cafe for my yogurt fix and remain in contact with the owner, Ziad. The more I talk to him, the more I like to feature Eatwell in my UYE choices. Ziad has a passion in promoting healthy gourmet with a Mediterranean twist. It was perfect timing to wrap up the challenge while Eatwell celebrates its anniversary in October. The UYE was named "Zoom Zoom 100 & Beyond" as a result from a Talk thread . This UYE was dedicated to the Yelpers who participated in the  2015 Yelp Challenge . I started the cyber event as a challenge to encourage my fellow Yel...

Why does my profile on Google Chrome look different started last weekend? Oh, wait. Every profile looked the same as mine, including non-elites. It was just awkward to see elements in different places. I got so used to using the app. It took me awhile to get used to the new iPhone version 10. So, I posted a thread on Yelp Talk: Yelp Profile Redesign . So far, there isn't a single person has the same view as me. I thought it may disappear after a reboot my Windows 7 laptop. But I still see it. There was no change on Internet Explore. Am I on a beta testing that I'm not aware of? I didn't see any mention of this on Yelp Engineering Blog , Yelp Official Blog , and Developer Blog . Mmm... Google Chrome 44 - profile image slideshow like on an app Internet Explore 11

Yelp is the leading website for local knowledge. EveryBlock is a leading website for neighborhood discussions. I first learned about EveryBlock from a news article. My thought was, “Yeah, that’s what I have been looking for.” I could spread good words about how Houston is a great place to live. We live in a lively city with 4 million people and there is much more to offer. So, I signed up and I have been enjoying the benefits since. EveryBlock is an interactive local news and information site that makes it easy to stay connected with what’s happening in a user’s neighborhood. It is equal parts neighborhood content aggregator, curator, and social platform. Users receive personalized information from a combination of sources - the Web, civic data, and user generated questions and comments - at the neighborhood or even block level. Users can read business reviews from different neighborhoods. As a Yelper, I think it's extremely important to share your experience on a busines...

So, what is a Yelp List? List is a feature to group reviews to tell a story. I didn't know about List until early 2014 from a Talk topic. Then, I began to use List to group reviews. However, I don't like the user interface to organize it. I spent a lot of time organizing my " Yelp Challenge 2014 " to look correctly by rating. In 2014, I also created these lists: Sincere Apology  - These are my below-average reviews - 1 or 2 stars. My Firsts List - Only shown the biz with First to Tip from the app version. Events I Yelp About - My love on the OYE, YEE and UYE. Be Kind to Your Mother (Nature) - My love with our environment. Crowd Pleasers - Lots and lots of people. Auto 'n Mobile of Houston - My experiences in car shopping is over. Soups Made from Scratch - Yummy. I love real soups. I plan to create more lists in 2015, including: From Outside Looking in - Being a tourist, I view the businesses differently than the locals. I plan to trave...

I started a " post cultural events" thread 5 months ago on Yelp. It's going strong.  I just posted a "happy Ramadan" greeting and started to have strange feelings. It's a religious event not a cultural event, right? I also noticed a deleted reply and thank you messages.  I have no regrets. It's my respect to people who practice Muslim as a religion. This is America, we have the freedom of religion. my experience with Ramadan was rejection when I offered food to some people before sunset. After reading some articles, I understood how everyone live their lives. We need to respect each other and live in harmony and peace. Ramadan runs different dates, just like Chinese New Year based on the lunar calendar. This year, it starts 6/29 and ends 7/28. So, don't be offended if someone don't eat your food offering before sunset. Plan your party after sunset will allow more participants.