Branding the Self on Yelp: Consumer Reviewing as Image Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This research offers a case study of how consumer reviewing on Yelp.com is conceived by users as a viable platform for constructing and promoting a self-brand. A thematic analysis of 18 in-depth interviews conducted with Yelp reviewers examines the various practices and relations involved in the self-branding process. Findings reveal that authenticity, feedback, and positive affect are of central importance to the task of “image entrepreneurship.” Although consumer reviewers commodify their own image to build a reputation for others, participants recognize consumer reviewing and self-branding as mutually constituted sites of productivity with recognizable market value. At the same time, Yelp’s commercial nature complicates the potential range of agency and empowerment experienced. As a tool for self-branding, consumer reviewing is evaluated as a mechanism of the post-Fordist social factory in which notions of work are dispersed into all spheres of life.