Travel Needs to Consider Life Without Facebook and Google, Says Former Facebook Investor
Photo Credit: Roger McNamee, early investor in Facebook, speaking on May 27, 2019, at Skift Tech Forum 2019 in San Francisco with Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali. Skift
Skift Take
Surveillance capitalism is due for a regulatory comeuppance in the next few years. Travel companies that make the decision to build brands around user privacy now will be ahead of the curve.
The constant refrain in travel over the last five years has involved Facebook and Google's role in not just travel inspiration and discovery but their emerging role disintermediating established players if they don't pay up for advertising.
The reality, though, represents an existential threat for travel companies. With the two tech giants owning the top of the funnel and essentially spying on potential travelers, the calculus surrounding working with the biggest businesses in the world needs to change.
"If you're not worried about it, you're not paying attention; you should be," said Roger McNamee, co-founder of Elevation Partners, early Facebook investor, and former mentor to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at Skift Tech Forum 2019 in San Francisco, Calif. "They have one [modus operandi], you do the work and they take the profit. They're
