August 27, 2008 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – Resellers are missing social networking opportunities, suggests a recent web hosting industry survey conducted by OpenSRS – the reseller services group of Tucows Inc. (http://tucowsinc.com).
The survey of HostingCon 2008 conference attendees suggests 60% of respondents “have their own blog or personal website” and 75% “use social networks like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter and FriendFeed to share information with friends and family. Despite their familiarity with these platforms, 81% survey respondents did not believe these types of platforms could hurt their businesses.
"While the web hosting industry does not view social networks as a threat to its business, people are going to functional-hosts for services that allow them to share information online," explained Tucows’ Vice President of Product Management and Marketing, Mr. Ken Schafer. “This demonstrates that there are opportunities for web hosts to tap into consumers who embrace social networks - but these opportunities are being overlooked by the very industry that knows the Internet best. It's important that as the web hosting industry moves forward, we understand that Internet users are seeking a customized, personalized, Internet experience for both personal and professional reasons. Ultimately, it's about customer relationships. Providers and resellers need to work together to provide the support, services and infrastructure that give users the best experience."
In 1999, Tucows became the first domain name wholesaler to be accredited by ICANN and chose the name OpenSRS for its domain name service. OpenSRS is a global provider of wholesale Internet services to web hosting companies and ISPs. Through a global network of over 9,000 service providers, Tucows’ OpenSRS group manages “millions of email boxes” and “over eight million domains”.
