How to create more interest in traditional muzzleloading.

[tenngun]

You tube doesn’t help unless you know what you want to see.
You want to learn to make Adobe bricks and build a house? How about make a Saxon house, you want to lean a little about astronomy, or astrology? There are vids a plenty. Change your oil, lay a tile floor? Make a Korean street omelette? Vids are all there.
But
You have to have your curiosity stimulated first to go looking for it.
Before a newbie goes looking on you tube he has to know that such a thing is done, he has to have a desire to learn about it.
Often we hear how many of us grey beards got started after watching Jeremiah Johnson, I didn’t I was already ‘in to ml” before I saw JJ. But I dare say everyone who wanted a hawken after seeing the movie already had an interest in the past, guns,hunting, and the great outdoors.
We have to trigger the interest before we can start a person on their journey.
We have today the *** and the Scotsman er ah outlander, that does use a lot of historic guns, black sails too and frontier, media is out there.
Our step is to develop a desire to shoot the guns.

 

[Bob McBride]

You simply have no clue what the Youtube algorithm is or how it works.

How many muzzleloading vids would show up without the algorithms ?

You would likely never ever see one, because you would be reduced to "random chance" and the mathematical probability would literally be 1 in millions if not billions.
89% of YouTube’s views are from outside of the U.S., there are more than 1,300,000,000 users, 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day and YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day.

Imagine trying to find a needle in that haystack without the algorithms.

I’m a small channel but 90% of my half million views this year were from the US and fully half are viewed from use of the search algorithm. Mostly “black powder”, “flintlock”, “black powder tv”, and “longrifle”. I’ve been told many times that folks got into BP this year after stumbling on my, BPMS, or Duelist’s channels. Young folks go looking on YouTube before they even use Google search when they’re after how tos or to see something of interest in action. It is the dominant place to find information and also to browse for interesting ‘things other people do’.

 

[Carbon 6]

my half million views this year

Exactly what I mean, Your 500,000 views per year sounds like a lot, until you realize that Youtube as a whole has over 1 billion views per day, and you only account for 0.00073 % if it's total views. So (if I did my math right) the chance of someone randomly finding your video on any given day without the algorithm, would be a 0.073% chance.

That's how small your needle really is.

 

[TNGhost]

You simply have no clue what the Youtube algorithm is or how it works.

How many muzzleloading vids would show up without the algorithms ?

You would likely never ever see one, because you would be reduced to "random chance" and the mathematical probability would literally be 1 in millions if not billions.
89% of YouTube’s views are from outside of the U.S., there are more than 1,300,000,000 users, 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, almost 5 billion videos are watched on Youtube every single day and YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day.

Imagine trying to find a needle in that haystack without the algorithms.

My point which you have actually helped make, is as below, ie if you are looking for muzzleloading content you will find it, but if you are simply going by what is "new" and recommended by YouTube, you'll likely never now that it is there.

And when you are trying to attract new people who aren't aware of the hobby, well, they are not going to be looking for it and it is not going to pop up as a recommended or linked subject unless they are already viewing or looking for it.

Movies, and I think ,more practically these days given the "creative" climate,, video games as I stated, are where its at to attract large numbers. of new and especially younger people to the hobby.

On a lesser scale then being outgoing about the sport and inviting others to come along is the best we've got right now.

You tube doesn’t help unless you know what you want to see.
You want to learn to make Adobe bricks and build a house? How about make a Saxon house, you want to lean a little about astronomy, or astrology? There are vids a plenty. Change your oil, lay a tile floor? Make a Korean street omelette? Vids are all there.
But
You have to have your curiosity stimulated first to go looking for it.
Before a newbie goes looking on you tube he has to know that such a thing is done, he has to have a desire to learn about it.
Often we hear how many of us grey beards got started after watching Jeremiah Johnson, I didn’t I was already ‘in to ml” before I saw JJ. But I dare say everyone who wanted a hawken after seeing the movie already had an interest in the past, guns,hunting, and the great outdoors.
We have to trigger the interest before we can start a person on their journey.
We have today the *** and the Scotsman er ah outlander, that does use a lot of historic guns, black sails too and frontier, media is out there.
Our step is to develop a desire to shoot the guns.

I’m a small channel but 90% of my half million views this year were from the US and fully half are viewed from use of the search algorithm. Mostly “black powder”, “flintlock”, “black powder tv”, and “longrifle”. I’ve been told many times that folks got into BP this year after stumbling on my, BPMS, or Duelist’s channels. Young folks go looking on YouTube before they even use Google search when they’re after how tos or to see something of interest in action. It is the dominant place to find information and also to browse for interesting ‘things other people do’.

 

[TNGhost]

Exactly what I mean, Your 500,000 views per year sounds like a lot, until you realize that Youtube as a whole has over 1 billion views per day, and you only account for 0.00073 % if it's total views. So (if I did my math right) the chance of someone randomly finding your video on any given day without the algorithm, would be a 0.073% chance.

That's how small your needle really is.

And that is when people are actively looking for it and not having it generated as recommended new, unknown viewing material. Which, being I took you OP to indicate bringing new people in to the sport, would be the problem. YouTube is not going to direct them, cold, to black powder content, where they do direct people to all kinds of other content cold, especially what they are pushing and their favored content providers. Most of them having a single particular social outlook.

So for someone not actively currently thinking of muzzleloading, the needle becomes impossibly small to see and they will never find it

 

[Carbon 6]

My point which you have actually helped make

What point are you trying to make ?
That using Youtube to promote Muzzleloading or small game hunting with a muzzleloader is akin to running an ad in soldier of fortune magazine ?
Is that your point. ?

 

[Carbon 6]

And that is when people are actively looking for it

No! That is without any algorithm at all.
As I said before. "you have no idea what an algorithm is or how it works."

 

[Carbon 6]

Which, being I took you OP to indicate bringing new people in to the sport, would be the problem.

To be clear, my original post was about using small game hunting to generate interest in muzzleloading.

 

[FishDFly]

Kinda interesting, just skimmed the above about U-tube and probabilities on finding things.

Folks here cannot find round balls on the internet and they know what they are.

 

[Carbon 6]

So for someone not actively currently thinking of muzzleloading, the needle becomes impossibly small to see and they will never find it

Duh, how do you find something you are not looking for ?

 

[Carbon 6]

Kinda interesting, just skimmed the above about U-tube and probabilities on finding things.

Folks here cannot find round balls on the internet and they know what they are.

I don't have any problem, Perhaps it not the internet that is the problem.

The majority of internet users access it via a smartphone. Using a smartphone to unlock the powers of the internet is like using a Visegrip to rebuild a car engine. You'll get a few nuts and bolts removed but then your stuck.

 

[FishDFly]

To be clear, my original post was about using small game hunting to generate interest in muzzleloading.

Probably getting large game hunters to shift their focus to small game and then introduce new folks to shooting and finally small game hunting. Large game guys would need to loan small game rifles to the news folks to save them the money and investment.

They might start with invites to those who they work with or in their social circle. Be a place to start.

Might try the 4H Clubs in suburban schools. Kids there already have an interest in critters and the outdoors. Would not hurt to talk with the teachers, might even draft a teacher to join you in your pursuit and they might recruit some kids.

 

[Carbon 6]

Probably getting large game hunters to shift their focus to small game and then introduce new folks to shooting and finally small game hunting. Large game guys would need to loan small game rifles to the news folks to save them the money and investment.

They might start with invites to those who they work with or in their social circle. Be a place to start.

Might try the 4H Clubs in suburban schools. Kids there already have an interest in critters and the outdoors. Would not hurt to talk with the teachers, might even draft a teacher to join you in your pursuit and they might recruit some kids.

I think you are better off focusing on young adults, as opposed to children. Those that have a job, and hence money and can legally hunt on their own. Less hurdles to overcome. I do like that you mentioned a downward transition from big game hunting as a potential inroad. I think that is important.

 

[Bob McBride]

Exactly what I mean, Your 500,000 views per year sounds like a lot, until you realize that Youtube as a whole has over 1 billion views per day, and you only account for 0.00073 % if it's total views. So (if I did my math right) the chance of someone randomly finding your video on any given day without the algorithm, would be a 0.073% chance.

That's how small your needle really is.

Right. My needle means nothing. The total numbers mean nothing. The entire value of YouTube is the algorithm. No one is randomly shown anything (except in the beginning when you are shown click bait to see what can break your focus from what it is you were doing in the first place). When someone searches, buys, or views, anything at all on the entire Google platform they get shown related content in the sidebar of YouTube and their algorithm narrows. 99% of secondary views are generated on the sidebar. If you look up gun stuff, hunting, outdoors, and anything history, you will be exposed to a BP video within 100 views. The algorithm makes it more like, for the individual viewer that there are only 5k videos on the whole site. Now, the odds I’m ever shown a video about vegan recipes or some pop singer is exactly zero. Algorithm. Non gun, history, outdoors, hunting, or similar people will never be exposed to muzzleloading on YouTube, unless they’re specifically looking to be exposed to it.

 

[Bob McBride]

Also, I might add, a YouTube channel can get permanently demonetized, particularly a gun channel, in a heartbeat for getting creative with our video titles. Trying to outwit the algorithm to up your views is more of a crime to YouTube for a gun channel than almost anything else I can do.

 

[Carbon 6]

My needle means nothing. The total numbers mean nothing. The entire value of YouTube is the algorithm. No one is randomly shown anything. When someone searches anything at all on the entire Google platform they get shown related content in the sidebar of YouTube and their algorithm narrows. 99% of secondary views are generated on the sidebar. If you look up gun stuff, hunting, outdoors, and anything history, you will be exposed to a BP video within 100 views. The algorithm makes it more like, for the individual viewer like there are only 5k videos on the whole site. Now, the odds I’m ever shown a video about vegan recipes or some pop singer is exactly zero. Algorithm.

That's a pretty good basic overview. I would add one more important factor. Your views (the things you view) compete for preference in the algorithm. The algorithm is designed to keep you engaged (addicted), It's going to show you more of what you like. Now there are ways around this and ways to enhance this, the algorithm is pretty easy to manipulate. The AI is getter harder to manipulate every day, because it learns, So, I have to be careful what I teach it.

 

[Bob McBride]

That's a pretty good basic overview. I would add one more important factor. Your views (the things you view) compete for preference in the algorithm. The algorithm is designed to keep you engaged (addicted), It's going to show you more of what you like. Now there are ways around this and ways to enhance this, the algorithm is pretty easy to manipulate. The AI is getter harder to manipulate every day, because it learns, So, I have to be careful what I teach it.

The interesting thing about the algorithm is that it is just you and it. Playing checkers. No one else is impacted on that level. It’s more interested in what you click on next and how you navigate the content you are given than what you actually watch. The most effective way to manipulate the algorithm is by, in ‘watched minutes’, watching more of what you don’t like to watch than you should ever want to, and by click tracing through videos that are the least interesting to you of those you are exposed to, in a way that is unlike how you would normally do it. And that’s hard to undo. It’s easier just to let your nephew or grandson watch YouTube for three hours on your account and it’ll be months before you stop seeing his stuff instead of yours and his habits imprinted on the algorithm.... I don’t mind the algorithm narrowing on me because I do have a curious mind so some of vids I am exposed to are stuff I had an interest in a month ago for a few hours, and I’m shown them occasionally, by the algorithm, just in case I might want to jump down that particular rabbit hole again... If I don’t go off on a YouTube random content tangent for a few months the algorithm doesn’t show me those old interests for nearly as long when I do go on another. Maybe a few days. Lots going on there as far as following your ‘habits’ that have less to do with what you watch than how you behave.....

As an aside, the analytics a YouTuber has access to is pretty staggering. I can see in my data basically every view I’ve ever gotten and how they got to me whether they saw my video that was posted on this site or anywhere else outside YouTube, where they were when they saw it, what keystrokes they used to get there, exactly where they stopped watching, how that point relates to where other people stopped watching, how that point shifts over time, etc. etc. etc. almost into eternity.

 

[FishDFly]

I think you are better off focusing on young adults, as opposed to children. Those that have a job, and hence money and can legally hunt on their own. Less hurdles to overcome. I do like that you mentioned a downward transition from big game hunting as a potential inroad. I think that is important.

Agree with you to some extent.

Problem with young adults is finding them in a herd group.

High school kids would be easier to corral. Plus their parents would be easier to work with.

Young adults, would have to find them before love/lust has set in.

Young adults jump pretty quick from being single to starting to fill the nest. Once the nest starts to fill, guns and hunting are not important.. Also disposable income starts to wane.

What would help is if ML Clubs would work hard to actually expand their ranks. Most clubs do not work at it and most do not advertise that they exist.

Ads in the Sunday sports section might draw new members to a club. Put the ad next to the Hunting and Fishing section in the sports section. Flyers in the local sporting goods store who sells hunting and fishing stuff.

If your state has a fish and game magazine, put an ad there with all the ML Clubs in the state with contact information.

Contact Swiss in Arlington, TX to see if they have any ideas. They donate a lot to 4H.

Would be interesting here to know what the group interest is.

Some of the groups would be large animal hunting, small animal, gun building, collecting, line matches, just plain ol' shooting, just happy that it went off, etc.

If folks do not know you exist they will not come.

 

[Jason Jablonski]

In regards to generating interest, many people refer to the Bicentennial and how that peaked interest. Many people forget that we have the Sestercentennial coming up in a few years. That could be put good use in perpetuating ML interest along with history and help keep both in a positive in light.
I have a mentor who took me out, let me and my son try shooting his MLs. (We have as a family been interested in history and spectated at some reenactments.) We went out this fall to a reenactment, my friend/mentor and his group put us in period clothes for the day and let us help and live fire their 4# cannon. Yes, live fire. Yeah, he set the hook hard. They have since set my son up with a rifle and clothing. I have purchased a rifle. The two of us then actually participated in the ML club (that I joined) rendezvous campout. We now have my other two sons shooting BP and hopefully will have them into their own guns soon. I guess what I am trying to say is you never know how far a little encouragement/help will go. That's 4 of us newbies with positive views of the sport.

 

[Jason Jablonski]

I forgot, I had also wondered if bushcraft classes held at ML clubs would bring some people in. Someone previously mentioned 18th century survival skills. There is interest from the younger people in that area. Our club has a campground and room for it, would just need to find an instructor looking for a location. Shooting MLs could be part of the instruction.