Which check-in / review apps for which purposes?

Posted by Luke Chambers on July 29, 2012 03:58 pm 2

Which check-in / review apps for which purposes?

I’ve always wanted to use check-in and review apps heavily, and the three I’ve considered are Google+ Local, Foursquare, and Yelp. I don’t like people knowing when im not home so I’ve decided against checking into places.

What I’m looking for:

Restaurants - Reviews/tips and primarily photos. I find photos of food at restaurants very helpful
Attractions - Tips, what to see, what to make sure to do
Bookmarking - I’d like to be able to review and bookmark places to go and places I’ve been for reference

My Thoughts:

Google+ Local - I love using Google+ and everything else Google, but I find this service not as valuable. I feel like a 3-star review system is really limited.
Foursquare - Tips can be valuable, and this seems like the most used of the three services. How is foursquare when it comes to restaurant food pics?

Yelp - Restaurant focused, but great review system and lots of pictures, I think this will be the best fit for me, but still not 100% sure.

What do you guys use? What do you find most valuable? Do you get a lot out of these services, or are you just putting in your location?