Google acquires Zagat and enters the review sector

Google has decided to invest again and this time has targeted Zagat, a platform of reviews which in the United States is a true authority in the sector.
From restaurants – an undisputed flagship – to commercial activities, Zagat gathers the opinions of thousands of people who wish to share their experiences of purchasing goods and services.
Today this does not seem so strange, being used to browsing through various Tripadvisor, Ciao, and similar portals. Zagat however, started operating in 1979 and established itself as an alternative reality to the more classic restaurant guides: the opinion, in fact, was entrusted from the beginning to the lay user and not the gastronomic expert, capturing the spontaneity of simple and disinterested comments. Upon reflection, this is perhaps one of the first examples of what we would today call UGC, that is – in web jargon – “User-Generated Content.”
The acquisition was announced by both companies: Google through usual and official communication channels; Zagat with a review made specifically for the occasion and an announcement on the homepage, with Google’s logo in the background.
The financial details have not been revealed but it is believed that the operation must have been concluded below the figure of 66 million dollars, since only beyond this threshold is the mandatory procedure requiring confirmation by the Antitrust triggered.
So what will happen to this large volume of reviews? It is very likely that Google will use them as a supplement for Google Offers but it is not excluded that they could also become part of other services, such as Google Maps.
Although structured and very extensive, the service of Zagat is only referable to the United States, so the innovation that Google could begin to bring to its products would initially start from the American base.
However, it is reasonable to think that such an acquisition opens the way to an extension of reviews also to other countries: it is likely that part of Google’s business in the coming months will begin to shift towards reviews. How much will all this affect the lives of sites that today base their activities precisely on user reviews?