[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #332: Traveler info more valuable than travel info?

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #332: Traveler info more valuable than travel info?
May 1st, 2013

suitcaseAt this time of year, as people get more serious about planning 
summer vacations, travel guidebooks become a popular item at the 
library, though perhaps not as popular as they once were. The print 
guidebook industry has never really recovered from the 2008 recession, 
which caused many people to delay their leisure travel, and has 
partially been replaced by various online travel resources. Last August, 
Google expanded its holdings in the travel business when it bought the 
Frommer's travel guides for $22 million, but what Google eventually did 
with Frommer's a few weeks ago is an interesting illustration of the 
kinds of deals companies will do just to get some more social data.

  * Google quietly pulls plug on Frommer's print travel guidebooks
    <http://skift.com/2013/03/21/google-quietly-pulls-plug-on-frommers-print-travel-guidebooks/>
    (Skift/Jason Clampet) "Starting with /Frommer's New York City With
    Kids/, which can still be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and in
    other bookstore inventories and was supposed to publish on February
    19, the entire future list of Frommer's titles will not see the
    light of day. Many of the authors attached to these 29 titles told
    Skift that they were informed by editors now working at Google that
    the books would not publish."
  * Google mines Frommer's Travel for social data, then sells the name
    back
    <http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/04/google-mines-frommers-travel-for-social-data-then-sells-the-name-back/>
    (Ars Technica/Megan Geuss) "Google bought ITA, a popular travel data
    service, in 2010, and the restaurant rating guide Zagat in 2011. But
    it was unclear how exactly Frommer's would live on in Google's
    pantheon. Last week, Google paradoxically sold
    <http://paidcontent.org/2013/04/04/arthur-frommer-buys-frommers-travel-guides-back-from-google-to-keep-publishing-in-print/>
    the Frommer's title back to the 83-year-old eponymous founder, who
    said he intended to resume publishing travel information under his
    name."
  * Google sold Frommer's Travel - but kept all the social media data
    <http://paidcontent.org/2013/04/09/google-sold-frommers-travel-but-kept-all-the-social-media-data/>
    (PaidContent/Jeff John Roberts) "The social media data will power
    Google's ongoing forays into the travel market in which it offers
    services like flight and hotel search, and Zagat reviews. In
    retrospect, it appears that the social media data may have been
    Google's goal along when it obtained Frommer's
    <http://paidcontent.org/2012/08/13/google-acquires-frommers/> from
    publisher John Wiley & Sons for $22 million in August 2012."
  * Google, Frommer's, and trolling for social networking data
    <http://saugatucktechnology.com/blog/entry/google-frommer-s-and-trolling-for-social-networking-data.html>
    (Lens 360/Bruce Guptill) "What did Google get for seven months of
    effort and $22M? Petabytes of travel-related social networking
    contacts and their related behavioral data. Google is retaining all
    of the data from former Frommer's followers, from Frommer's itself
    as well as from Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, and of course,
    Google+. Now, Google has a wealth of social network user data to
    integrate with its well-organized, international travel advisory
    brand - Zagat - and its data management service/platform optimized
    for travel data use - ITA."

*/Sales fact:/*

While guidebook sales 
<http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/03/22/why-google-is-pulling-the-plug-on-frommers/> 
in the US dropped 10% to 20% after 2008, those sales seem to have 
stabilized recently.
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