Facebook Tests Out A New Star-Rating System That Could Hurt Yelp
The Facebook "Like" has become confusing and over-used as users Like more and more Pages for reasons ranging from actually liking something, to expressing solidarity or even disliking it. If a Page has a huge number of Likes, it speaks more to how much people talk about it than how they necessarily feel about it.
By adding a public rating feature, Facebook would allow users to share more concrete opinions or learn more about a business or restaurant. It also would put Facebook more directly in competition with the likes of Yelp and FourSquare.
Facebook has already allowed users to use a star-rating for places and pages but this will be the first time that those cumulative ratings are displayed prominently on a business or place's Page.
Here's a screenshot from the TechCrunch tipster:
