In the next couple of weeks, the review Web site Yelp intends activating its new "reply" feature, whereby the voiceless-till-now small business owners reviewed on the site will get a chance to counter the rather ruthless criticism from the so-called Yelpers - the cadre of high-ranking reviewers!

The San Francisco-based company Thursday sent e-mails to some of its most active users, imploring for their views about the proposed "reply" feature to help businesses clarify their stand on contentious issues raised against them by way of user reviews.

With the initiation of the new feature, small businesses - which often find themselves under scrutiny of the Yelp microscope - will now be able to respond publicly to customers' critiques. The functioning of the new feature will necessitate the businesses to first register themselves for a free business owner's account; and, when a business posts its reply on Yelp, the site will alert the reviewer via an e-mail.

By and large, Yelp's new feature implies that businesses will finally have a say on the essentially review-based website - a provision that they had been long asking for!

About the "reply" feature, Yelp spokeswoman Stephanie Ichinose said that had been deliberating on the business end of the review, feeling the necessity for the businesses wanting a "public way to respond to reviews."