Consumers favouring the online giant for socially sharing their comments and opinions 

54% of all reviews in May this year were submitted on Google, according to new statistics from Feed it Back. The online reputation specialists’ monthly social review tracker puts Google as the go-to platform for sharing consumer experiences and feedback, significantly ahead of Facebook and TripAdvisor.

The data, which was taken from thousands of social reviews across the restaurant, quick service restaurant and pub industries, reveals that 39% of reviews came from TripAdvisor and only 7% of reviews came from Facebook over the period.

Feedback: The Good and the Bad

The sentiment analysis section of the findings looked at if where consumers leave their feedback changes, depending on the type of review they are leaving.

The figures show consumers were most likely to leave an outstanding review (5 out of 5), when using Facebook (64%); compared to 54% on TripAdvisor and 44% on Google.

They were also more likely to leave a negative review on Facebook, with 18% leaving feedback ranging from 1-2 out of 5; TripAdvisor followed closely behind with 17%; whereas negative reviews on Google only equated to 11%. 

Meanwhile, Google had the highest rate of middle-range reviews (3-4 out of 5) with 43%; whereas TripAdvisor had 32%; and Facebook just 20%.

Commenting on the figures, Carlo Platia, CEO of Feed it Back said: “With an ever-increasing prevalence of consumers using the internet to research restaurants and sense check them before visiting, it is an absolute must that operators are tracking their online reputation and in touch with the latest channels and trends. 

“Our latest social tracker shows that, while TripAdvisor dominates the headlines, Google reviews, driven by location prompts from mobile devices, are absolutely driving mass feedback and there is a clear opportunity for operators to steal a march on the crowd by using a platform, such as ours, to isolate track and respond to Google reviews.

“Digging into May’s sentiment analysis, people were more likely to leave polarised reviews on Facebook, either sharing a very good or very bad experience with their family and friends. To counteract this, operators need to deal with the negative feedback in a swift fashion to turn it into a positive. It will be interesting to see how the good weather in June and England’s surprise World Cup run has impacted sentiment across the UK.”