We’re joined by Robin Seemangal, founder of Deepcor, an online global news site that focuses on tech, progress, and culture. We’ll be discussing Deepcor’s background, how he got up and running, the initiative’s fast growth, and what the future has in store.
Tell us about what Deepcor is and the idea behind it?
The Deepcor Initiative, as it was first known, was a project to assemble an international team of young and innovative thinkers from an array of different backgrounds and nations who had a common vision for how information should be shared and utilised to address social issues. We theorised that an assembly of this kind would be able to not only build an organisation from the ground up, but grow exponentially using our various skills and personal networks.
For two months we searched and vetted dozens of individuals from all corners of the globe, a task that was gruelling but successful. When the ‘initiative’ was complete, we had a working group of 25. They included Programmers, Writers, Researchers, Editors, Designers, and Hacktivists.
There was no launch party or grand announcement, we started working immediately. Deepcor spent a month in beta-phase, where we established our website, launched a social media campaign, and divided the group into teams. After trials and some training, we were able to divide the working group into 6 departments: Coding, Writing, Editing, Research, Media and Marketing. We were finally a whole and had one simple task: Bring data and information across international borders to specific demographics.
Focused marketing is our main tool when it comes to how our articles are shared. We have established lists and leads of individuals who sit at the centre of certain networks and are able to expose people to content that was created just for them. Last month we published a very local piece that exposes the financial void and racial inequality in the FDNY of New York City. While a report like this would not have a global appeal, we used our focused marketing strategy which included contacting and working with high-ranking members of the FDNY. The piece went viral in NYC the very same night it was posted.
There has been some misconception about what our organisation actually is. We are NOT journalists, but information traffickers and it’s very important to make this distinction.
Our approach to data and information is very raw and the main goal is to ensure that information gets to the people who need to be exposed to it. There will never be a single advertisement on any of our reports and no profit will ever be made from the information and data we produce and publish. Deepcor firmly believes that material intelligence and raw information should be an absolute necessity and be free of financial influences.
You cover topics such as news, culture, and tech. Who do you work with to provide all of your insightful articles?
In terms of our exclusive reports, we rely on asset driven reporting from like-minded individuals who are in a position to provide information and intel from a direct source. These sources are channeled through Janine Medina, our New York City based Human Resources Director whose sole job is to find, recruit, and form professional relationships with all potential assets .
While our security and confidentiality procedures are always evolving, we started with a small encryption team based out of the middle east to secure our communication network, provide background checks and share intelligence on potential cyber attacks on our servers. Due to the continuing chaos in Syria and ripple effect it has on the entire region, we’ve lost complete contact with the members of our security personnel.
In order to continue operating, we’ve formed a relationship with Mike Janke and Mark Pearson who run a company called Silent Circle. They have provided us with global communication with military- grade encryption.
You’ve grown a lot over the past few months. Did you expect to become so successful in such a short time?
The Deepcor Initiative was conceived by myself and my closest friend Tonnie Raaijmakers, who currently lives in the Netherlands.
The reason for our rapid growth was a perfect storm of a few factors. My input would provide the day to day structuring of Deepcor while Tonnie’s input was a sweeping, long-term vision for what direction the organisation would take. After a month and many sleepless nights, we had hundreds of pages of logos, website designs, vision statements, and marketing strategies. Tonnie and I realised that we were missing something from the planning process. That’s when we brought in Shaun Brown, a Manchester based webmaster and coding genius.
Shaun was able to focus our programming needs, provide servers, and build a coding team from scratch. This trifecta completed the planning stage of Deepcor and the three of us set a schedule for how we would progress in terms of recruitment, publishing, and network reach. We set extravagant goals for ourselves for how many visitors our site would have, the accumulation of twitter followers and Facebook ‘likes’ which are all crucial to the growth of an organisation whose mission is to produce information based content. We can confidently say that we’ve exceeded all of our own expectations.
A news outlet like Deepcor needs to be online and quickly accessible to everyone around the world. How do you handle all the traffic to ensure users get your articles?
Well that’s where our coding team comes in. Shaun maintains the servers while Nicco Landberg, a Sweden based programmer works as our Administrator.
Nicco built our back-end admin system from scratch while updating and maintaining it on a daily basis. As we are an international team, there is always an editor or programmer ready to upload and publish an article at any time of the day.
Our Social Media team has two crucial members who sit on opposite ends of the world time-zone spectrum. Erik Herrera is based out of Los Angeles and runs our Google+, Tumblr, and creates content for our Facebook page.
Sarah Harvey is based out of Australia and is engaged in a long-term research project which involves bypassing the Chinese firewall and sharing our articles across all Chinese social media sites. Since Sarah joined Deepcor she has become our go-to for breaking news while also writing long features. Having a team that is spread across the planet allows us to be active around the clock, 7 days a week.
What advice would you give to other bloggers that are looking to grow an audience?
Research and planning. We are aware of the enthusiasm that comes along with starting a new project and the need to immediately start sharing your new blog or website with your friends and family. What gets lost in this initial burst of energy and self promotion is your own vision.
The main problem with presenting a project still in its embryonic stages is the outside influence and “advice” you will receive from individuals who realise you are still in the early stages of your project. This influence from others could potentially degrade your initial vision and cause you to deviate from your original plan. If you are serious about building something that has staying power, you must invest time in formulating your mission and long-term goals before you start sharing your work with the general public.
Premature exposure can lead to unnecessary pressure brought on from peers and criticism of your unpolished content which could tarnish your brand and lead to discouragement. When it comes to running a blog or site with a specific focus, it’s important to find and engage your future “competitors”. Study their content, explore who their followers and readers are while participating in discussions across their social media sites.
When producing content, you must have a presence on the larger social media networks. Studies show that people are getting their news and information content directly off their news feeds rather than manually visiting websites or blogs. For Deepcor, our Google+ and Facebook accounts have not only helped our content receive exposure but has enabled us to network with other media outlets and like-minded individuals.
What’s next for Deepcor?
Our website is just a part of our organisation and acts as a tool to build consensus among our readers.
Deepcor.com helps us realise which social issues are most important to our audience and helps build a foundation for our research department. With the leadership from our Denmark based Chief Statistician Rolf Lyneborg Lund, we have initiated a few long-term research projects that involve gender inequality and sexual abuse.
Tonnie and I have conceptualised and designed an app which we believe could change the way information and breaking news is shared throughout the world. While we can’t say much about the function and features at this point we can say that Deepcor will be testing the app in high-risk areas of Pakistan and Chicago.
We are continuing to build our infrastructure with applications such as image-storage.com and sharesend.com both of which are part of the Deepcor family. These websites will be incorporated into our app and allows us to encrypt all data that passes through these networks.
Generally, the goal for us is too establish working groups all around the world. In a matter of weeks we will be launching china.deepcor.com which will focus on reporting from inside China with a team we are currently setting up there. France.deepcor.com and uk.deepcor.com will follow soon after.