Thinking about building out Shipwreck.tv

[LM]

The domain just expired and I nabbed it. Obviously, will make it into a video content destination...

The objective would be a non-commercial streaming channel for pro salvors to upload video content of their operations to promote treasure hunting as a legitimate and desirable field. Before moving forward, we would need a few people interested in their own site channel (think- www.Shipwreck.tv/you) who could be reasonably sure that they could upload treasure hunting videos on a pretty regular basis, formatted in five to seven minute 'episodes'. Think video blog, but with as much action footage as possible. It doesn't have to be all in-water stuff... everything involved with treasure hunting, from research to fixing boats to planning to getting gear- whatever, film it, put it up... You can edit, we can edit, doesn't matter, your choice. You'd also be free to promote your own site and salvage operation on your channel. Don't know how we're going to handle appeals for investors- at first, when the site is new, no...

If anyone's interested, let me know and if it seems like the content might be there, we'll get this off the ground. If anyone has any ideas as to what might make for a good channel, suggestions welcomed. Also, for those who may be interested, would you prefer a direct upload to our servers, or would you prefer to upload to your own youtube channel and we just stream-through to Shipwreck.tv?

Naysayers welcomed too, but you will be ignored and/or laughed at

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[signumops]

I think you are on to something for sure. Promoting it may be your first hurdle, but, the video blog format has captured a lot of interest, no question. Material hosted does not necessarily have to be action either. Could be geo-info stuff, video of digs in progress, talking heads - interviews, tech tutorials... all kinds of stuff that is more fun for the contributor to add. There's actually quite a bit of streaming video content on Treasurenet already, and you can see by the stats that more would be appreciated.

I, for one, would probably rather deal directly with domain servers instead of routing through youtube.

 

[LM]

We'd use standard promotion strategies. Search engine optimization, a managed social networking web (with a few targeted ads), we'd also rely on external backlinks from participants websites, since this would benefit them more than anyone. This would also give the salvors a fast and easy reference point to direct people towards their own content. "Oh, yeah, if you want to see our operation in action, we're on Shipwreck.tv..." Great on a business card, boat or bumper sticker

Within a year or so, we're going to know if the site is sustainable or not and if the broader concept is viable. We have the execution part is pretty much down pat. This ain't our first rodeo with this sort of thing, but it is with this particular topic.

Definitely agree with your content ideas. There would be no desire on our end to manage, direct or censor content. Direct content submission has a huge advantage in that it gives us control over the content, instead of being liable to whatver 'changes' youtube might make.

For those of you who want to be a part of promoting Treasure Hunting in a 21st Century sort of way, here's your chance.

 

[wreckdiver1715]

I think you have an excellent idea there! I did the same thing back in June and have spent the last five months putting my new website together, and just launched the site two weeks ago. I have set up a video section for just the purpose you described. We have the capability to load video directly to our server. However, I would recommend placing videos directly in YouTube or one of many other video platforms, and linking to the website. This saves space on our server, and increases visibility of your videos on the web.
We are planning several series of Treasure Hunting videos, and we will start filming our first series this December down in Central America. Needless to say we have been very busy with this new project, and this explains why you have not seen much of me lately on the Shipwreck forum, and why I am no longer a Moderator on TreasureNet, see moderator resignation link http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,364075.0.html


Tom

 

[LM]

If you're talking about the site in your profile, this will be pretty different.
It's not really going to follow the "static articles and a forum" model that has been standard since the early 00's. We're going to buck the user-integration trend and focus mostly on content quality. It's going to be built out as a 'channel' with carefully selected content partners rather than a 'website'.

Your site looks pretty nice, though. One thing I can suggest as an old-veteran of forums (intensely active participant since the the days of newsgroups, occasional mod and former admin) who has seen them all come and go, rise and fall- a standard mistake that damn near all start-up forums make is Subforum overload. When forums are new, generating activity is key. Activity begets activity which begets more activity until you reach critical mass. Subforums serve to disintegrate forum activity at a time when centralizing the participation is most critical and can actually be a significant retrograding force in getting users chatting and keeping the discussions hopping. New forums hit a doldrums period and inexperienced admins think that adding more forums would help generate activity but really, they just hamper the activity that already exists.

As much as I love treasurenet, this site is pretty much a case-study of what not to do in regards to forum structuring. The site ticks along OK, but that is largely because it carved out its niche as the topical standard-bearer early on and has succeeded in spite of what is pretty much universally accepted as a forum strategy misstep. You just cannot indulge every possible topical interest with a subforum. What you gain in SEO, you lose in user activity. Big, established forums with huge user bases can go this route since they have the buzz to support the subs, but for new forums, it's a death-knell. To start a forum in the year 2010-pushing-2011, things are very tricky and subforum overload is probably the #1 killer of startups. Once you get beyond the initial interest generated by launch and start to see who your core participants are going to be, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Subforums should be added when a pressing need arises- when niche topics start to crowd out other discussions in an otherwise active forum. "If you build it, they will come" doesn't really work with subforums. A good rule of thumb- first, focus on attaining users. Then, focus on attaining *active* users. You'll know when a sub is needed. A productive sub is based on need, a counterproductive sub is based on 'ideas'.

My .02, take it for what you paid.

If/when we get our Shipwreck channel up and going, we'll definitely link back to you as an authority source.