Owners of small businesses have often been frustrated by the reviews left on the Yelp website. Yelp claims to have over 5 million reviews on its website. Until recently only consumers could post reviews on the site but Yelp is now going to let business owners respond.
Now business owners are getting their chance. And talking back is sweet.
This month, Yelp will open up its site to public responses from businesses, a first for the 5-year-old San Francisco company.
It's a significant victory for business owners, who have long griped that they were being shut out of the Yelp community -- which boasts more than 5 million reviews to date -- and were unable to address what they perceived as unfair and unchecked posts.
For small businesses, which rely on good word of mouth, a negative review could be especially damaging.
PSFK blogs before these much-needed changes companies had few ways to respond to negative reviews. PSFK notes that the Pizzeria Deflina pizza chain in San Francisco even started outfitting its staff in t-shirts that contained quotes from terrible 1-star reviews found on Yelp. The New York Times also has a story here on changes at Yelp.
Owners of small businesses have often been frustrated by the reviews left on the 
