8x8 announced it has launched an interactive online community designed to create a forum for Packet8 subscribers and prospective VoIP users to share, communicate and learn from one another.



The Packet8 Online Community is a virtual meeting place where Packet8 users and others can network with fellow subscribers, post individual blogs, create special interest groups and forums, obtain technical support, enter classified listings, share best practices (for small business users), learn about Internet phone service and more. According to 8x8 Vice President of Sales & Marketing Huw Rees, one of the primary reasons for launching the Online Community was to establish a vehicle for Packet8 VideoPhone users to reach out beyond their immediate circle of family and friends and visually communicate with other VideoPhone users around the world.

"Many of our subscribers are very passionate about Packet8, particularly those using the videophone and virtual office services, which offer uniquely appealing advantages to the user," said Rees. "We see the Packet8 Online Community not only as an opportunity for our subscribers to connect with one another, but also as a way for us to interact with them, as well as with others exploring VoIP, on a more personal level. Many 8x8 employees, including our Chairman and CEO, have posted their own blogs."

According to an AC Neilsen study conducted in September 2004, nearly 40 percent of Americans say they participate in online communities, with sites around hobbies, shared personal interests, and health-related issues among the most popular. Red Herring magazine reported in a July 25, 2005 article, "To reach the growing masses online, the future of marketing can be summed up in one word: interactive. Companies are starting to tap marketing blogs, corporate blogs, interactive web site features, gaming advertisements, and more to reach a new, technologically savvy consumer population."

Viewing and participating in the Packet8 Online Community is free of charge and open to the general public.