The document discusses the evolution of social technologies and their impact on business, presenting the metaphor of 'rock-paper-scissors' to highlight shifts from physical to digital assets. It explores challenges such as privacy, ownership, and persistence in a post-digital landscape, alongside examples of companies adapting to these changes like Best Buy and Newsweek. Ultimately, it emphasizes the importance of trust and relationships in leveraging social platforms and data value in modern business models.

1. Piedra, Papel, Tijera
The Business of Social Technologies
Gam Dias
Founder, First Retail Inc.
Social Technologies in Madrid - October 30th, 2012
From a presentation given at Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid as part of BankInter’s
Future Trends Forum on Social Technologies

2. PIEDRA ROCK
PAPEL PAPER
TIJERA SCISSORS
The growth of Social Media has elevated identity, privacy and big data to become vital topics for
CIOs and CMOs of online businesses. Rock – Paper – Scissors provides a good metaphor for this.

3. Pre-Digital
PAPER: INFORMATION
ROCKS: PHYSICAL POSSESSIONS
SCISSORS: ACTUAL TOOLS
In a Pre-Digital world, our vital information was held on paper, the rocks represented our
physical possessions and the scissors were the tools we used to create material value

4. Post-Digital
INFORMATION  CLOUD
POSSESSIONS  RELATIONSHIPS
TOOLS  DEVICES
Post-Digitally, any information of value will be held on the cloud, our relationships with people
and businesses are the rocks and the tools are the devices to manage data and relationships

5. Libraries and bookshops were essentially exchanges for printed matter - reference, fiction and
non-fiction.
PHOTO: Fang Guo

6. Within a few years, the growth of Wikipedia have replaced printed matter as the reference
source of information. The crowd will maintain accuracy and integrity.

7. Yesterday’s printed matter is being rapidly digitized, making it widely available over the web

8. The appearance of tablets and e-readers has changed how we consume information – this has
fundamental effects on our inventories of printed matter

9. Our learning institutions used to be physical buildings. Our accreditation was formal and issued
on paper.
PHOTO: InSapphoWeTrust

10. Innovations like Coursera are changing the way we are educated. As our perceptions of
qualification change, so will how we are accredited – new models of testing will appear

11. The music store is a thing of the past – music having been through physical, magnetic and
optical media, it is now streamed from the cloud onto mobile players

12. Today’s music is offered online and resembles radio stations in the way content is served up, but
this content is uniquely tailored to not just the individual, but also to their mood at the time

13. Post-Digital Challenges
Privacy
Ownership
Persistence
There are new challenges to post-digital business. Privacy. Ownership. Persistence. New
businesses will need to overcome social and legal hurdles to make progress

14. PRIVACY: Everything published into Social Media can be shared and runs the risk of doing so
despite privacy controls on the content. Google image search returns my friends’ photos first.

15. OWNERSHIP: Digital content is replicable in full-fidelity. For people that make a living creating
digital content, how will digital businesses create models that prevent or de-value piracy

16. PERSISTENCE: There are many services that allow us to upload vast amounts of content. How
can they help us determine what is worth keeping and will they be able to charge for this?

17. Post-Digital Remixes
BestBuy Open API
Newsweek
HP Snapfish
Here are three organizations and initiatives that are very much of the future, demonstrating
how the post-digital challenges can be overcome to create new valuable business models

18. Best Buy spends a lot of money getting people into its physical stores. Once there, as many
retailers are finding out, Amazon is able to swoop in and convert at the last minute

19. BestBuy Open provides an amazing example of sharing what was once considered valuable
content, to allow third parties to create new value that brings a commercial advantage

20. Newsweek has watched print sales in decline. There is only so much you can do to keep that
business afloat and it is a brave decision to totally kill off a product in decline

21. However, Newsweek already had a successor to its print business in operation. As of Jan
1st, 2013, the content will be entirely available online on the Daily Beast Website

22. HP has a strong and mature reputation for the best printer technology. Despite the upcoming 3D
printing innovation, printing on paper is declining – there is no doubt.

23. Over 10 years ago, HP acquired Snapfish – digital photo printers. Snapfish is the platform upon
HP’s future innovation lies. Is the primary service now digital persistence rather than printing?

24. Working with Social Technologies
Existing Social Platforms
Data As Value
Trust and Relationships
As we work with Social Technologies we must remember three things: Social Platforms, Data As
Value and Trust and Relationships

25. Maclaren Baby is a case of a manufacturer deciding that it can easily reach and sell to its
consumers directly, but needed to increase the market for all channels via Social Platforms

26. Jetpac is a Social Media application that builds travel brochures out of your friends’ Facebook
photos – its business model is based on the trust you have of your friends’ recommendations

27. Amazon has had tremendous success with its Ratings and Reviews system on products. This is
using the crowd to create highly valuable data

28. Conclusions
Existing Social Platforms
Data As Value
Trust and Relationships
As you work with new Social Technologies a way to overcome the new challenges is by looking
back to some old values

29. HTTP://WWW.REALTEA.NET/ROCK_
PAPER_SCISSORS
The blog post providing a more detailed
discussion on these topics