THE WIRE: How The Guardian will make money out of its UGC community

If you know me in real life or have read this blog or my tweets for a while you will know that I am an enormous fan of the HBO show The Wire. It's fair to say that it could be classified as an addiction.

It's a show that requires proper attention, in fact it demands proper attention. This isn't bubble gum telly, as David Simon one of the creators said on the BBC in 2008, he's not writing The Wire for the average viewer... "fuck the average viewer." This isn't a TV show that you can dip in and out of, in fact this isn't even a show that you can really watch on TV. The only way is to download it all or buy or borrow the DVD box set (you'll find that Wire addicts are more than happy to spread their addiction and share) I think that I would have found it impossible to watch one episode and wait a week for the next episode.

Rather like an addiction I think that The Wire makes you into a bit of a bore - in a way that if you're in it then it's brilliant, if you're not then it's awful. What I mean by that once you get seriously addicted you just need to lay your hands on anything else vaguely related than might help quench your hunger.

From show The Wire I moved onto reading Homicide and The Corner (two of the books that The Wire is based on), then got into the the early seasons of the TV show Homicide and now I spending a lot of time reading books by Richard Price (Clockers probably being on my Desert Island Books list,  Lush Life is well worth a read too) and George Pelecanos (maybe start with Hell To Pay). I just needed more and more of the backstory of The Wire to get Wired (so to speak)

Throughout all of this the Guardian Wire community was my quasi-support group. Every week it would take and dissect an episode. They were, still are in fact, essential reading for anyone interested in delving deeper into the whole Wire experience. I can't recommend them highly enough. Earlier this week I got an email from Steve Busfield at The Guardian. He curates The Wire blog community on The Guardian's Comment Is Free space:

Hello

I have some exciting developments about the Guardian's Wire blog to talk to you about. This Christmas, we're going to be publishing a book of the best of our online coverage of the Wire. This includes blog posts, interviews and reviews, as well as many of the comments left by guardian.co.uk users. Because you contributed to a comment thread on one or more of our Wire blog posts, your comments may be included in this collection.

This kind of use is covered by our terms and conditions (http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html), but I just wanted to let you know personally, as I hope you'll be as excited as we are that this content will now be available in book form.

Thanks again for your participation in the blog, and now the book, too. The blog will, of course, continue.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder+series/the-wire-re-up

Steve

The discussion is here at Comment Is Free about what to call the book.

I just think that this is a brilliant initiative.

For all the talk about the monetization of UGC and whether advertising can ever deliver an ROI, The Guardian have just turned this on its head and decided to make a product out of UGC and bring in revenue that way.

It's something that I will either buy for myself, or ask for as an xmas present, and its also a book that I will buy for a number of fellow Wire addicts. I really hope that it does well. When I know more details about publication dates etc I will of course post them here.

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=529135704]

I can't help but feel that if someone like Google had decided to do this, people would be screaming bloody murder about a corp. trading on its users' original thoughts and ideas. Although there are many similarities between this type of trade and advertising - I reckon this overt use of other peoples' 'work' without specifically asking for their permission before they engaged in the community would kill trust in certain users.

Agreed its a good idea from the Guardian - just hope the double standards employed when judging one corp. as evil and the next corp. as innovative for the same type of activity aren't unnoticed.

p.s. The Wire is mega-awesome.

[Steve Busfield]

Amelia,
I'm glad that you like the book plan. It has been a delight to write/read/participate in the Wire Re-up blog over the last couple of years. The readers have made the blog a must-read for those interested in The Wire.
I'm not sure that the book is going to make a lot of money. But I am very glad that our content is going to be made available in a new format that people can keep on their bookshelves/give to their friends and family at Christmas.
One small point, the blog is MediaGuardian's blog - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder
and not Comment is Free.
Thanks for reading/commenting/blogging/tweetingabout our project
Steve

[amelia]

@Ramzi, you raise an interesting point. I wonder if there's a profit share for some of the contributors?

To be honest I don't think that people who contributed are looking for financial renumeration. Contributions were done out of a passion for The Wire and a desire to talk and share thinking with like-minded addicts.

The time that it would have cost someone like Steve at The Guardian to run the community, develop and moderate new content would have been enormous I expect. It was a community which was free to join, free to be a part of so I am imagine that this will meet with nothing but positive feedback from the community members.

Let's see.

Will you buy a copy?

;-)

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=529135704]

You're certainly right Amelia - and I know many other companies do similar things. PostSecret for example sells books off the back of the postcards which people send in etc but in that scenario the PostSecret community are 100% aware before they contribute that there is a chance their content may end up in a book.

I think for me the slight unease comes from the lack of up-front transparency that your contribution could be used for profitable gains without your permission. I know many other companies do it - its just that when they do it, they get called out as being deceitful but in this case its considered innovative.

I guess its hard to draw the line between 'good' use of peoples' data and unfair use!

[twitter.com/GordonMacMillan]

Good post and great idea on The Guardian's part. Not sure Google could do this - the Guardian owns/develops content Google doesn't.

The Wire is awesome - though i have issues, but i have too much work to do to go into them.

[Amelia T]

I wonder if I feel good about the Guardian making some money out of their digital activity because I know financially how much they are suffering in the print world. I applaud the fact that they are trying to monetize (sorry, hideous word) their online content through means other than banners and banners and sponsored text links

[James Cherkoff]

Put me down for a copy pls... ;-)

[Steve Busfield]

The book is now available to buy: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/organgrinder/2009/nov/03/the-wire-re-up-the-book
Thanks for your thoughts about the book. As Amelia says, I think the Guardian's Wire community are just pleased that the book is coming out and that they had a part in it.
To be honest, I'm not sure that it will raise much revenue, what with The Wire being loved deeply by those who have seen it, but that being a relatively small number of people.
Now, if we were doing this book about EastEnders, there might be more people interested in buying it, but it would not be anywhere near as interesting.