GoDaddy announces Webmasters Day
In yet another successful publicity stunt, domain registrar and web hosting company GoDaddy proclaimed April 29th to be the official Webmasters Day. The day will be an occasion to celebrate the skills and efforts of people who make the WWW tick. GoDaddy's announcement is getting a fair share of coverage already, and it is likely that the new "holiday" will take off.
The company has set up a dedicated web page, from where you can send your favorite webmaster an e-card. Baking him/her a cake shaped like the internet is optional.
"The Internet wouldn't be where it is today without this underappreciated group who keep content on the ‘net fresh," GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons said. "I think a day to remind everyone of how vital Webmasters are is way overdue."
There is no word yet whether webmasters can celebrate System Administrators Day, too.
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I like the idea. Sure, the world does not need yet another "holiday", but it is another interesting marketing move by the team at GoDaddy.
The quote in the original release was a place holder written by GODaddy. Here's what I really had to say:
"We think it's great that organizations such as GoDaddy.com are recognizing Webmasters for the true professionals that they are," said Bill Cullifer, Executive Director, World Organization of Webmasters."Webmasters serve their customers with a broad skillset, including strong technical, design, business and project management skills, and they play a pivotal role in any organization’s structure today."
Bill Cullifer, exec dir WOW.
Publicity stunt perhaps but its time has come. :--)
So much for Webmaster Appreciation Day. GoDaddy actually declared today, April 29th, the first annual Webmaster's Appreciation Day - ahead of their "unscheduled network outtage." So much for appreciation! Their whole network, DNS, Microsoft SQL Server farms, and everything else went DOWN for hours. But wait, it's not over... Many, many businesses and individuals (Webmasters?) hosting their websites with GoDaddy were seriously out of luck - they too were off-line and unavailable. Pings timed out, n-maps failed, and FTP sessions failed authentications. Zillions of websites were simply unavailable... to take orders, serve support & information, and everything else we have come to take for granted - especially the Webmasters!
The real question is: What will GoDaddy do for their customers now? Will they credit them money or services? Will they even publicly apologize?
This is a huge opportunity for the world's largest ICANN registrant and web hosting company to step up and make a difference. GoDaddy could choose to capitalize on this the right way. They could take advantage of the spotlight (they do like the spotlight re: SuperBowl Ads) and show what it means to appreciate a webmaster! Bob Parson's is something of a legendary maverick, with his retired Marine Corp swagger. The next news cycle will tell. Comments and input in the blogspace will tell. Or... GoDaddy will simply say, "What outtage?"
- Jacktastic
