Meshblogging: The Guardian and the value of open (#mesh10)

I’m at Mesh 2010, “Canada’s Web Conference” at MaRS Collaboration Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday May 18 and 19. I’ll be posting updates periodically over the course of the conference.

Dr. Chris Thorpe is the developer advocate for The Guardian’s open initiative.

• Guardian’s open api allows anyone (currently 2,000 third-party developers working on apps) to mash-up Guardian content and create new applications on the Web with it.
• Open API is good to have because it creates lots of new audiences and new business models for the Guardian. Co-creation.
• Co-creation example: By engaging with followers on Twitter, Guardian reporter was able to source photos that contradicted official police version of events in death of G8 protester.
• Monetize API by either charging syndication fees, pushing ads into data stream, or doing revenue share with collaborators.
• Guardian’s Open API feeds The Guardian’s mission of becoming the worlds leading liberal voice by weaving The Guardian into the fabric of the Internet.

Kent’s commentary:

This is a great case study of an important concept in social media marketing — being generous with your community and giving things away in order to build long-term engagement. It’s also recognition that it’s counter-productive to try to create false scarcity of online content.