Facebook has turned into the new Google (in many, many respects) - and when it speaks, pretty much the entire business world has a tendency to listen.
So the PhoCusWright conference finally gets its hands on a Facebooker in the shape of Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships and platform marketing.
A shame that he didn't give out a huge amount of detail about how the so-called New Facebook will impact travel, but some interesting nuggets of information.
Much was made of the new time-line, where a user's entire history on Facebook is played out on a single page...
...but it is the engagement aspect of the current Facebook that illustrates where perhaps travel brands are starting to see some opportunity.
Of course, Facebook appears to love TripAdvisor - the duo's integration from June 2010 is cited as a significant example of a third party tapping into the social graph to give user's better recommendations - in other words, from their friends, people they trust - when researching hotels, destinations and activities.
Indeed, Rose says TripAdvisor users who are tapped in via Facebook Connect are twice as likely to leave a review against a product on the site.
But what else?
- About 85% of social-led trip planner Gogobot users are connected into Facebook at the same time.
- Nearly 30% of Gogobot's new users are coming via invitations or recommendations from Facebook.
- On Airbnb, 85% of users are more likely to book when they check out a recommendation via a friend on Facebook.
Gaming is a major play in Facebook, Rose says, with Zynga achieving huge success with Farmville, for example.
But can a company capture the spirit of travel and create a game that will have the same impact as Farmville, travel-style?
Traveler IQ Challenge is an obvious yet simple example, but nothing has come along, Rose says, to the same degree as Farmville. Yet.
"There are lot of companies that want to be a Zynga for Travel," he says, "and we believe someone will emerge and become a success."
What little detail Rose gives about New Facebook, comes when citing how the new gestures and sharing tools are being played out so far in verticals such as news and music.
Currently, a user's interactivity with both types of material are appearing on their time-line and, indeed, the newsfeed of their friends - "I am listening to", "I am reading", etc, etc.
This will happen in every category on the web, he says. To the extent and process in travel is still to be determined, but the opportunity is enormous and, to paraphrase, everyone can and should participate.