{"id":745753,"date":"2013-04-09T19:38:24","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T23:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paidcontent.org\/?p=227464"},"modified":"2013-04-09T19:38:24","modified_gmt":"2013-04-09T23:38:24","slug":"google-sold-frommers-travel-but-kept-all-the-social-media-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/745753","title":{"rendered":"Google sold Frommer\u2019s Travel \u2014 but kept all the social media data"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mystery solved. Many were scratching their heads over why Google sold Frommer’s Travel Guides this month — less than a year after buying the brand for $22 million. The answer is the same as for why Google does nearly anything: data.<\/p>

As Skift reports<\/a>, Google handed over the company to founder Arthur Frommer sans<\/em>\u00a0social media accounts. In other words, Google is keeping all of the followers that Frommer’s accrued on Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Google+, YouTube and Pinterest. These thousands — or more likely millions — of accounts are valuable because they represent a huge collection of serious travel enthusiasts.<\/p>

While Google will not keep the Frommer’s name, it’s able to keep the followers by simply changing the name on the account; in the case of Twitter, all of the @FrommersTravel followers are now following Google-owned @ZagatTravel:<\/p>

This account is now @zagattravel<\/a>! Welcome. Stay tuned for info on where to go, where to stay and how to explore around the world.<\/p>

\u2014 Zagat Travel (@ZagatTravel) April 9, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>

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.<\/p>

In retrospect, it appears that the social media data may have been Google’s goal along when it obtained Frommer’s <\/a>from publisher John Wiley & Sons for $22 million in August of 2012. The company has not disclosed how it much received for selling the brand back <\/a>to Arthur Frommer, who intends to relaunch the title’s print editions which Google decided to discontinue in favor of digital-only offerings.<\/p>

In response to a question about the social media accounts and the price of the sale, Google provided this response:<\/p>

We\u2019re focused on providing high-quality local information to help people quickly discover and share great places, like a nearby restaurant or the perfect vacation destination. That’s why we’ve spent the last several months integrating the travel content we acquired from Wiley into Google+ Local and our other Google services. We can confirm that we have returned the Frommer’s brand to its founder and are licensing certain travel content to him.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Social media accounts are becoming increasingly significant as more people use them to connect with people and brands and to explore the internet. Popular New York Times<\/em> reporter, Jim Roberts, cause a fuss for instance, when he revealed that he would take his 75,000 Twitter followers with him<\/a> when he left the paper this year.<\/p>
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