Thanks to my friends at OpenSRS (the reseller service group of Tucows), I managed to get a copy of the results of one of their reseller surveys. What was interesting was the vast majority of resellers use social networking, but believe that social networks (or those who host social networks) are not a serious threat to their business.

This is a little naive I feel. I came to same conclusion that the folks at OpenSRS came to. I think Ken Schafer, VP of Product Management and Marketing at Tucows said it bets when he said:

“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. 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.”

Social networks are hosted by someone and they are garnering tremendous amount of traffic, the survey is a testament to that considering so many resellers are using them (60% of the resellers surveyed have their own blog and nearly 75% use one or more social networks like Facebook and Flickr).

There is untapped potential out their for the experts of the hosting industry, i.e. the Web Hosts, to cash in on this market. People have shown that the need these services and if they are not getting them from you, they will surely get them from others.

If customers are looking for the best experience then why not add a means for them to interact with and build a community? Giving them the tools will only go so far. If a customer of yours is building a community than it would be an opportune moment for you to help them. Maybe add a service that provides traffic or community awareness. Even post comments on their blog.

At the end of the day, the difference between you hosting social network services and a company like Facebook is that you can help provide the helping hand that will make your customers successful. Building relationships is not just for socializing it will (if not has) become a means for survival.

Take some time to think about that for a bit. And while you do that, happy hosting!