Taipei-based Deepblu, Inc. have launched Deepblu BETA, the first social network built for the diving community. Divers can showcase their diving feats, interact with the ocean community at large and plan their next dive trip.

With the launch of Deepblu, the previously wildly scattered diving community now has a single platform to gather, discuss and share underwater moments. Deepblu has all the functionality of a modern social network, with options to create a profile, follow friends and organizations, discuss, comment, like and share.

“Looking at the ways people currently interact in the diving industry and by extension the entire marine community, it’s easy to see how fragmented it is,” co-founder and CEO James Tsuei explains, “Our ultimate goal is to unite divers, dive businesses and conservationists alike around Deepblu and make diving more exciting for everyone with a passion for the ocean.”

All the Functionality of a Modern Social Network

Deepblu allows users to create a profile to interact with others on the platform. This profile includes all the diver’s certifications as well as a digital dive logbook, an overview of all diving adventures the diver wants to share with their buddies or the public.

Deepblu dive logs can be created manually, or automatically with a compatible dive computer such as Deepblu’s own COSMIQ⁺ or a 3^rd-party computer via the open-source software Subsurface. Deepblu dive logs are beautifully designed, and divers can enrich them with underwater photo – and videography, creating a visually appealing timeline of their dive. It is also possible to add stories and descriptions of gear and diving conditions. Finally, divers can have their instructors digitally certify their dive logs, and tag their diving buddies.

Users can follow other profiles to explore the photos and dive logs of friends and see what celebrity divers and organizations are up to. A trending page brings up the hottest stories in the world of diving. Meanwhile, divers can discuss various diving topics in one of the many Community Groups for freediving, coral identification, wreck diving, and many more. Users can even create their own groups.

Deepblu is available through web browsers on the desktop or the fully redesigned mobile applications for Android and iOS.

Connecting Divers and Businesses around Planet Deepblu

One of Deepblu’s most exciting features is still in the testing phase and slated for release in January 2017. Aptly named Planet Deepblu, this interactive and quickly growing map of over 10.000 dive spots the world over aims to make it more convenient for divers and dive businesses, such as resorts, rental shops, instructors, liveaboards and conservationists to find each other.

Planning a dive trip used to be a tedious and cumbersome job, so divers will be relieved to find that Planet Deepblu’s fluid user interface makes it a breeze to plan, while businesses large and small will have a much easier way to reach the community and advertise their services.

“We are really excited about what we are setting up with Planet Deepblu,” Tsuei says. “Come January, our users will be able to pick their favorite destination, choose the accommodation with the best reviews and offerings, select the best place to rent their gear from and even the instructor they choose to learn from or dive with.”

www.deepblu.com