Hello 360rumors.com readers!
As you might have read in last week’s post by Mic, 360rumors.com has officially been acquired!
Who I Am
For those who don’t know me yet, I’m Vineet Devaiah, a long-time 360 Rumors fan and founder of Teliportme.com. I first connected with Mic in July 2016, just a few months after he started 360Rumors.
My Relationship with Mic and 360rumors.com
Initially, I thought Mic was a mad scientist, filming in-depth videos on 360 cameras in his backyard. These were the early days, and Mic was pushing the limits of what a 360 camera could do. As a software guy with a keen interest in cameras, I was amazed by the detailed tests he was doing daily. Not to mention publishing three articles a day, every day.
360 cameras were not mainstream yet, but Mic was the only outspoken champion for this technology and capture methodology. I used to silently consume all his content, never contacting him until late 2019 when I was convinced TeliportMe could pass his rigorous and careful eye. Getting an OK from Mic mattered a lot; he is like the Walt Mossberg for the 360 community. He was passionate and critical with his feedback, and we did whatever we could to get his nod of approval and improve our product. He was the only person who was willing to take out a LOT of his time to help us.
Since then, we have developed a deep friendship. I was able to collaborate with him on a brief live interview series during the pandemic, which was a lot of fun for me personally. Then, sometime in January 2023, he asked me this question out of the blue.
It took us almost 18 months, a trip to LA, a lot of meals, and many calls to finally close the deal. In that process, I believe we both grew more confident that this is the best way forward for the 360Rumors brand.
Why Did I Buy 360rumors.com?
So, why did I decide to acquire 360rumors.com? There are many levels to this answer, so let’s break it down.
Sometime post-pandemic, I noticed Mic had slowed down his posting. He was not as interested in being first with the news, sometimes going weeks before writing an article. At this time, I didn’t know Mic personally as well, but after the interview series in 2021, it was clear he was focusing his efforts on his family. His passions had shifted, and as someone driven fully by passion, the limited time he could spend on 360R was reducing. This was even clearer when we started the discussion for the takeover in early 2023.
Traffic was falling, and Mic wanted someone he could trust to take this over. After meeting Mic in July 2023, it was even more evident that he didn’t need the blog financially. After much thought, I decided to take over 360rumors.
While there is some overlap between what 360Rumors writes and TeliportMe, it is very small. To give you an idea, virtual tours or anything related is not even in the top 60 organic search terms that 360Rumors ranks for. However, over a long period, we both knew that while passion might wax and wane, if we could align TeliportMe and 360Rumors, it could be the best outcome to take 360R to the next level.
Content creation is not TeliportMe’s strongest suit, but there were many technical things I clearly saw could be improved on the SEO side, community side, and monetization. I felt I could add a lot of value to this, and if we improved these areas, it would have a flywheel effect on the content created via the blog. I believe that if we do right by the community, we will be able to grow on what 360R has established.
What Does 360rumors.com Without Mic Mean?
I am not aware of too many brands that have survived the loss of a founder, so it will be an uphill task replacing Mic. His contributions have been invaluable, and while he’ll be stepping back, his legacy will continue to influence the site. He still has access to create and write posts whenever he wishes, and as long as there is that fire in his belly, I know he will be making those amazing in-depth videos. He is still actively growing his YouTube channel, so I think there will be a lot more video content from him.
Rest assured, the core values and mission of 360rumors.com will remain intact. We’re building on a strong foundation and aiming even higher.
What Will Change
“There is no wall! There are only bricks. Your job is to lay this brick perfectly. Then move on to the next brick. Then lay that brick perfectly. Then the next one. Don’t be worrying about no wall. Your only concern is one brick.”
Mic was 100% brute force when it came to growing 360rumors.com. He focused relentlessly on the frequency and quality of content, building a great foundation to build a beautiful house. I, on the other hand, am more process-oriented, focusing on laying each brick well before moving to the next.
With the acquisition, you can expect some exciting changes:
- Better Branding: We’ll be refreshing the site’s logo and brand to better reflect our vision and the vibrant community we serve.
- More Community Activity: We’re planning to unite our Facebook Groups under the 360rumors.com brand, encouraging more interaction and engagement within the community. Think user-submitted content, contests, and more ways to connect with fellow enthusiasts.
- Less Focus on Rumors/Instant News (Short Term): In the short term, we’ll be shifting our focus away from rumors and instant news. Instead, we’ll prioritize in-depth content that offers real value and insights whenever possible. I see us returning to more “news” type postings in about 8 months, once we have a more defined process in place.
- More Consistent Content (Long Term): Over the long term, our goal is to provide more consistent and comprehensive content. This means regular updates, more tutorials, and a wider range of topics to explore.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. Your support has been the fuel that kept this engine running. Here’s to more 360-degree adventures, more VR escapades, and a lot more fun together.
See you in 360 —– Vineet Devaiah
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Hello, Vineet!
I wish you, Mic, and the site the best in this new era!
I would also like to make a suggestion. One thing I believe would really help everyone (both the site and the community) and promote the use of 360 cameras is to implement some interactive features found on sites such as DPReview. These features include camera feature search, side-by-side comparison, and a studio scene/shot comparison tool.
These tools can help users make informed decisions about their purchases, and the amount of information already available in the website could be used to create many of those tools. A studio scene comparison tool would need to be created from scratch, though, but I believe Mic’s camera collection would be invaluable for that, too.
Such interactive features can not only drive more traffic to the site, lead to increased engagement, and improve SEO ranking, but also establish the site as a go-to destination for 360 camera newbies and enthusiasts.
I’ve wanted to do something like a comparison tool but it’s quite difficult in part because i need to reserve a space for it to get consistent and comparable results. I even thought of renting storage that could be used for that but it’s too expensive. The closest thing I have done is to shoot that beach cottage sign in all recent reviews.
Thanks Ricardo – Mic and I had discussed something similar to do very early on but as you can imagine I do not have the kind of camera collection that Mic has – I also travel a lot so it’s tough for me to maintain that kind of consistent “studio” as off now. I do think its possible and is a solid idea. We do have that side by side comparison that Mic has been doing over all these years which I am hoping to take over and redesign within the next 3 months. I think getting hold of all the content and organizing it would be step 1. Maybe one day 360R will have its own office space and we can have the studio scene/shot comparison tool 🙂 Please do share more ideas like this as I want to definitely improve the interactive part of the 360R 🙂
Good luck Vineet! I will continue to follow this excellent site; my friend Mic did a huge and fantastic job, I wish you both success in your new adventures!
Thanks Giorgio 🙂
Thanks Vineet! I’m really impressed! The fact that you can say that you can shift away from news for now and can even say when you plan to shift back at such a specific timeframe shows just how much of a visionary you are (if I may say so). I’m more excited than ever to see how 360r will grow under your capable leadership!
Sad news. One of the things I liked about Mic’s site is that we got a feel of his personality and what he really thought about things. It seemed honest. I hope that we also get to know your authentic self, Vineet. I only use 3DVista for virtual tours and I don’t have any need to change so I also hope this site does not become a site for TeliportMe. Good luck to all.
Thanks for sharing your honest thoughts David. The fastest way to kill 360Rumors would be to make it about TeliportMe so no that will never be happening.
We will be talking a lot more about Virtual Tour software, the future of Immersive Storytelling etc which 3Dvista is a part off, so feel free to send me some great ideas on what can be talked about. It might be tough to be Mic 🙂 but I will definitely be my authentic self
Good point Vineet. I like the idea of drawing a line between the two. I used TeliportMe Android app way back when I started liking panoramas, which was free at that time. Then I was fascinated by Google Streetview, got into 360 photograpy and started contributing for the sheer joy of it. Good luck on the next gen 360R. I wish Mic all the best in his next journey and adventure.
Vineet,
Congrats on the acquisition of 360Rumors.com
Mic Ty has given the community a tireless, passionate gift.
Huge shoes to fill. I know you are up for it.
Best wishes,
Dan
Thanks Dan.
Mic has left behind some big shoes indeed.
We should connect sometime.
Hallo Vineet!
I hope you can “360rumors” back to life. I missed a page with news around 360 camera and more in the past time, since Mic stop posting more and more. I hope Mic can pass all the contacts to you so there will be news from different brands, not only from the big ones.
Maybe there reads can bring in their knowledge who the get the best out of their cameras.
Thanks Bart – what are the other brands you are interested in learning more about ?
Based on my experience of 360 cameras (since 2001), in the last period I seem to have noticed that the 360 video camera market has mostly been acquired by a single brand, obviously Insta360. Gopro stopped producing 360 cameras for quite some time, Kandao ruined its reputation with the Qoocam 8K and its technical problems, then wasted time with the long-time promised Qoocam 3 Ultra (beaten in time by the X4); Ricoh with the Z1 remains good for photos but not yet up to par for 360 videos; other brands are very small or only produce expensive professional models. Some other brands have discontinued their models.
From this point of view, it seems to me that the real choice is very limited. What do I mean by this?
Simply that today the choice is probably easier, and that you don’t need so many reviews to take note of it.
Perhaps there could be some new models, from other brands that are not the market leader, that could still be interesting, but the competition, in my humble opinion, seems quite closed at the moment.
360 Rumors will have to continue to carve out its space in this sector that has changed; I believe that capturing the attention of newcomers and enthusiasts could be the key to its continued success.
100% agreed. The 360 camera market has lost its “newsworthiness” .
The market is pretty much dominated across by Insta360.
I have some ideas and you will see them soon 🙂 .
I see us going into more pioneering adjacent topics which will see a lot more innovation and position ourselves a bit differently.