General Information

211 Survey Participants from 42 Countries

  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Bahrain
  • Brazil
  • Cambodia
  • Canada
  • Colombia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Egypt
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Hungary
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • Russia
  • Rwanda
  • Singapore
  • Slovakia
  • South Africa
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Thailand
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom
  • United States

Gender

Male
2015: 88%
2014: 89%
Female
2015: 8%
2014: 11%
Prefer Not to Disclose
2015: 4%
A Gender Not Listed Here
2015: <1%

Top Countries

  1. United States: 32%
  2. United Kingdom: 8%
  3. France & Germany: 7%
  4. Canada & Spain: 3%
  5. Italy, Brazil, Sweden, India, Australia, & New Zealand: 2%
  6. Singapore, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, Switzerland, Austria, & Denmark: 1%

Top U.S. States

  1. California & Florida: 12%
  2. New Jersey: 9%
  3. Virginia: 7%
  4. New York: 6%
  5. Washington: 4%;
  6. Pennsylvania, Texas, Oregon, Wisconsin, Utah, Idaho, Oklahoma, Michigan, Missouri, & North Carolina: 3%;

Your BuddyPress Sites

BP Versions Used

BuddyPress 2.2
2015: 82.78%
BuddyPress 2.1+
2015: 24.40%
BuddyPress 2.0+
2015: 8.61%
BuddyPress 1.9+
2015: 5.26%
2014: 85.13%
BuddyPress 1.8+
2015: 1.91%
2014: 23.64%
BuddyPress 1.6+
2015: 1.91%
2014: 4.72%
Other Option
2015: 1.44%
2014: 1.01%
BuddyPress 1.7+
2015: 0.96%
2014: 4.72%

WP Versions Used

WordPress 4.1
2015: 91.47%
WordPress 4.0+
2015: 15.31%
WordPress 3.9+
2015: 5.26%
WordPress 3.8+
2015: 3.35%
2014: 88.25%
WordPress 3.5+
2015: 2.87%
2014: 6.02%
WordPress 3.7+
2015: 0.96%
2014: 18.67%
Other Option
2015: 0.96%
2014: 1.8%
WordPress 3.6+
2015: 0.48%
2014: 5.42%

Why Still Using < BP 1.6

I’m fine with the BP version I have installed.
2015: 61.54%
Other Option
2015: 30.77%
I don’t know how to update my BP site.
2015: 11.54%
I don’t know how to update BP theme/plugins.
2015: 0

BP Sites Built

1 site
2015: 40.76%
2014: 38%
2 to 5 sites
2015: 37.91%
2014: 44%
16 sites or more
2015: 10.43%
2014: 8%
6 to 10 sites
2015: 9.48%
2014: 8%
11 to 15 sites
2015: 1.42%
2014: 1%

BP Sites Hosted

Shared Hosting
2015: 45.97%
2014: 59.58%
Virtual Private Server
2015: 36.49%
2014: 33.53%
Dedicated Server
2015: 26.07%
2014: 22.45%
Managed Hosting
2015: 13.74%
2014: 4.66%
Cloud Hosting
2015: 11.37%
Not sure
2015: 1.90%
2014: 5%
Other Option
2015: 1.42%
2014: 1.70%

Sources of Survey Response

Browser: 91%. Mobile Device: 9%.

Browser Source Type

Resizable IFRAME: 92.2%. Direct: 7.8%.

Estimated Time to Build BP Site on single WP Install

Three days
2015: 27.18%
2014: 20.36%
Seven days
2015: 26.70%
2014: 31%
One month
2015: 22.33%
2014: 18.23%
Other Option
2015: 13.11%
2014: 15.80%
Two months
2015: 7.28%
2014: 10.03%
Six months
2015: 3.40%
2014: 4.55%

Estimated Time to Build BP Site on WP Multisite Install

One month
2015: 29.35%
2014: 24.24%
Seven days
2015: 22.83%
2014: 20.20%
Other Option
2015: 17.39%
2014: 26.26%
Two months
2015: 13.04%
2014: 12.45%
Three days
2015: 11.41%
2014: 9.42%
Six months
2015: 4.89%
2014: 7.40%

BuddyPress Users

I use BuddyPress in my own site.
2015: 38.86%
2014: 37.65%
I build BuddyPress sites for others.
2015: 25.12%
2014: 27.40%
I am a site admin of a BuddyPress installation.
2015: 12.32%
2014: 11.74%
I build BuddyPress sites and create BP themes and plugins.
2015: 10.43%
2014: 11.74%
I am an advanced BuddyPress Developer - I can do anything BP.
2015: 9.48%
2014: 8.13%
I create BuddyPress Themes.
2015: 1.90%
2014: 2.40%
I create BuddyPress Plugins.
2015: 1.90%
2014: 0.60%
I am a member of a BuddyPress powered community.
2015: 0
2014: 0.30%

IE Versions

IE 9
2015: 34.02%
2014: 28.71%
IE 11
2015: 19.07%
IE 8
2015: 17.01%
2014: 36.30%
IE 10
2015: 12.37%
2014: 12.97%
Other option*
2015: 10.82%
2014: 11.55%
IE 7
2015: 6.70%
2014: 10.56%
*Other Option: "None", "IE 6", "Don't know", "I would hope none of them are using IE", "Ewww", "I have banned the use of IE", "We don't use that", "Only use Safari and Chrome at this point", "Hahaha".

BP in Your Language

Tag Cloud of Languages used in BuddyPress Sites
1. English (69.23%), 2. French (10.26%), 3. German (7.69%), 4. Spanish (6.67%), 5. Italian (3.08%), 6. Dutch (3.08%), 7. Brazilian Portugese (2.05%), and 8. Russian, Portugese, Polish, & British English (1.31%).

BP Site Types

Tag Cloud of Types of BuddyPress Sites
1. Generic (26.32%), 2. Academic (23.31%), 3. Artistic (12.03%), 4. Sports (11.65%), 5. Gaming (10.53%), 6. Scientific (8.27%), 7. Religious (6.77%), 8. Travel (0.75%), and 9. Health (0.38%)

Themes and Plugins

Themes Used for BP Sites

Commercial WP theme with custom BP CSS and/or template modifications
2015: 34.13%
2014: 26.28%
I create a brand-new WP theme and write my own custom BP CSS and template modifications using BP theme compat
2015: 31.25%
2014: 23.86%
Commercial WP theme
2015: 25%
2014: 27.79%
Free WP theme
2015: 21.15%
2014: 28.39%
I use an existing WP theme, but write my own custom BP CSS and template modifications using BP theme compat
2015: 20.19%
2014: 23.26%
Free WP theme with custom BP CSS and/or template modifications
2015: 19.23%
2014: 17.82%
Child theme of the BP Default theme
2015: 11.54%
2014: 14.80%
BP Default theme
2015: 9.13%
2014: 10.87%

Preferred BP Theme Features

Compatible with the latest BP version
2015: 76.12%
2014: 79.02%
Responsive
2015: 61.19%
2014: 62.31%
Light and Fresh Design
2015: 60.20%
2014: 55.92%
Responsive, mobile-first
2015: 52.24%
2014: 41.33%
Translation-ready
2015: 26.87%
2014: 32.82%
Mobile App
2015: 18.41%
2014: 15.80%
Dark and Edgy Design
2015: 5.97%
2014: 7.59%
Other Option
2015: 5.47%
2014: 7.90%
RTL support
2015: 4.48%
2014: 9.11%

Devices Used to Navigate Site

Smartphone
2015: 62.68%
2014: 55.31%
Desktop
2015: 57.89%
2014: 56.23%
Laptop
2015: 47.37%
2014: 56.23%
Tablet
2015: 21.05%
2014: 21.58%
Other Option
2015: 1.44%
2014: 1.51%
Television
2015: 0.96%
2014: 0

Number of Activated Plugins

More than 20 plugins
2015: 28.99%
2014: 21.98%
6 to 10 plugins
2015: 28.50%
2014: 24.09%
11 to 15 plugins
2015: 19.81%
2014: 21.98%
1 to 5 plugins
2015: 11.59%
2014: 19.57%
16 to 20 plugins
2015: 11.11%
2014: 12.34%

BP Plugins Activated

Top BP-Specific Plugins Used

  1. BuddyPress Activity Plus
  2. BuddyPress Group Email Subscription & Invite Anyone
  3. BP Group Hierarchy & BuddyPress Global Search
  4. BP Profile Search, BuddyPress Docs, & BuddyPress Usernames Only
  5. BP Group Documents & BuddyPress Like
  6. BP Group Organizer, BuddyBoss Wall, BuddyPress Activity Comment Notifier, BuddyPress Cover Photo, BuddyPress Edit Activity, BuddyPress Moderation, & WooCommerce BuddyPress Integration
  7. BP Group Management, BP Login Redirect, BP Registration Options, Buddy bbPress Support topic, BuddyDrive, BuddyBoss Media, BuddyPress Cover, BuddyPress Follow, BuddyPress Friends On-line (FOL), BuddyPress Group Documents, BuddyPress Groups Extras, BuddyPress Live Notification, BuddyPress Members Only, BuddyPress Profile Progression, BuddyPress Security Check, BuddyPress Username Changer, Buddypress Xprofile Custom Fields Type, & Rendez Vous.

Top BP Compatible Plugins Used

  1. 1) bbPress.
  2. 2) Akismet, JetPack, & rtMedia.
  3. 3) Achievements for WordPress, CloudFlare, MyCred, User Switching, & WooCommerce.
  4. 4) Contact Form 7, GD bbPress Attachments, Gravity Forms, iThemes Security, List category posts, Members, Peter's Login Redirect, Regenerate Thumbnails, Revolution Slider, s2Member, WangGuard, & WooThemes Helper.
Visualization of requested BuddyPress features
Click on the image above to go to the visualization of the plugins mentioned in the survey or go to the accessible version of plugins used.

Forums Added

Yes
2015: 53%
2014: 58%
Sometimes
2015: 28%
2014: 23%
No
2015: 18%
2014: 19%

Forums Set Up

Sitewide and Group Forums
2015: 49%
2014: 48%
Sitewide Forums Only
2015: 22%
2014: 29%
Group Forums Only
2015: 19%
2014: 23%
Not sure
2015: 10%

Forum Software Used

bbPress plugin (2.x)
2015: 90.96%
2014: 90.17%
Other Option
2015: 3.39%
2014: 3.50%
vBulletin
2015: 2.26%
2014: 0
bbPress legacy (1.x)
2015: 1.13%
2014: 2.45%
SimplePress plugin
2015: 1.13%
2014: 1.75%
Vanilla forums
2015: 1.13%
2014: 0.70%
Mingle forums plugin
2015: 0
2014: 1.05%
phpBB
2015: 0
2014: 0

Components and Participation

Components Always/Almost Always Activated

Extended Profiles
2015: 71.13%
2014: 73.06%
Activity Streams
2015: 66.49%
2014: 69.69%
User Groups
2015: 57.22%
2014: 49.83%
Internal Messaging
2015: 43.30%
2014: 40.06%
Notifications
2015: 42.27%
2014: 44.44%
Member Account Settings
2015: 40.21%
2014: 52.52%
Friend Connections
2015: 34.02%
2014: 39.73%
Site Tracking
2015: 8.25%
2014: 10.10%

BP Components Rated

*2014 ratings are in parenthesis.

Components Very Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied
Extended Profiles 14.59% (16.02%) 47.03% (43.55%) 29.19% (29.61%) 5.95% (8.36%) 3.24% (2.43%)
Activity Streams 11.05% (12.8%) 51.93% (41.86%) 24.31% (30.1%) 10.50% (11.7%) 2.21% (3.46%)
Member Settings 8.38% (14.33%) 44.13% (42.65%) 33.52% (32.16%) 11.17% (8.74%) 2.79% (2.09%)
Friend Connections 9.39% (17.77%) 45.86% (39.72%) 35.91% (34.84%) 7.73% (5.92%) 1.10% (1.74%)
Internal Messaging 8.20% (18.4%) 38.80% (36.11%) 41.53 (31.59%) 9.84% (9.37%) 1.64% (4.51%)
User Groups 12.64% (14.64%) 43.41% (39.02%) 28.02% (33.44%) 13.19% (10.1%) 2.75% (2.78%)
Notifications 9.84% (12.93%) 45.90% (38.46%) 32.24% (34.61%) 9.29% (8.39%) 2.73% (5.59%)
Site Tracking 6.74% (8.99%) 28.09% (21.94%) 54.49% (57.91%) 7.87% (7.91%) 2.81% (3.23%)

Ways Contributed to BP Development

Helped out in BP forums
2015: 73.13%
2014: 81%
BP Trac: Reported Bugs
2015: 56.72%
2014: 47%
Joined in BP IRC/Slack dev chat
2015: 37.31%
2014: 20%
BP Trac: Submitted patches
2015: 31.34%
2014: 30%
Submitted a BP plugin to the WP plugin repo
2015: 25.37%
2014: 26%
Wrote article/s in BP Codex
2015: 22.39%
2014: 20%
Submitted BP translation/s
2015: 20.90%
2014: 20%
BP Trac: Tested patches
2015: 17.91%
2014: 23%
Submitted a BP-compatible theme in the WP theme repository
2015: 5.97%
2014: 10%

Opinions and Requests

Evaluated other Social Networking Software

  • Yes: 67% (3% less this year)
  • No: 33% (3% more this year)

Other Social Networking Software Evaluated

BP Strengths/Opportunities

Free and open-sourced
2015: 90.43%
2014: 90.10%
BP is an official WordPress plugin.
2015: 82.70%
2014: 84.28%
BP is extensible
2015: 62.70%
2014: 70.00%
BP has community support
2015: 68.65%
2014: 66.35%
Compatible with other WP plugins
2015: 59.57%
2014: 63.60%
BP lets you own your own data
2015: 61.08%
2014: 58.92%
BP is easy to set up
2015: 44.32%
2014: 56.42%
BP Theme compatibility
2015: 60.64%
2014: 55.12%
Positive feedback from your community.
2015: 20.00%
2014: 23.92%
Documentation has improved
2015: 18.62%
2014: 22.26%
Translation in your language
2015: 19.15%
2014: 21.20%

Browsers Used During Survey

Chrome (36.5%), Unknown (36.5%), Safari (16.6%), iPhone (5.2%), iPad (3.8%), Internet Explorer (0.9%), and Firefox (0.5%).

BP Weaknesses/Threats

Need more features added to BuddyPress
2015: 59.89%
2014: 59.55%
Developer Documentation is not complete
2015: 44.51%
2014: 42.64%
Performance
2015: 39.88%
2014: 45.88%
Not sure about the future of the plugin
2015: 39.88%
2014: 40.00%
User Documentation is not complete
2015: 32.97%
2014: 42.64%
Confusing for users to navigate
2015: 31.79%
2014: 31.37%
Spam
2015: 29.48%
2014: 37.64%
BP is not compatible with some WP plugins
2015: 25.82%
2014: 27.57%
It is free, development may not be market-driven
2015: 24.28%
2014: 17.25%
BP is not compatible with some themes
2015: 16.48%
2014: 27.20%
Confusing to set up
2015: 15.38%
2014: 15.44%
Translation in your language is not available
2015: 3.30%
2014: 3.30%
Not what I expected
2015: 1.65%
2014: 2.20%

Requested Improvements & New Features

123 respondents posted 202 requests which were categorized as follows:

  • Core - General: 12.86%*
  • Core - Media: 10.75%
  • xProfiles: 10.17%
  • Activity: 8.06%
  • Groups: 7.49%
  • Theme Compatibility: 5.76%
  • Members: 4.99%
  • Core - Privacy: 4.22%
  • Documentation: 4.22%
  • Core - Anti-Spam: 2.11%
  • Core - Chat: 2.11%
  • Notifications: 2.11%
  • Core - Email: 1.92%
  • Core - Registration: 1.92%
  • Forums: 1.92%
  • Messages: 1.92%
  • Core - Events: 1.73%
  • Core - Search: 1.73%
  • Core - Follow: 1.54%
  • Core - Hashtags: 1.54%
  • Core - Plugin Compat: 1.54%
  • Core - SEO: 1.54%
  • Core - Settings: 1.34%
  • Core - Moderation: 1.15%
  • Core - Navigation: 1.15%
  • Core - Social Sharing: 1.15%
  • Core - Like: 0.96%
  • Core - Mobile App: 0.96%
  • Core - Ajax: 0.77%
  • Friends: 0.58%
  • BuddyPress.org: 0.38%
Click on the image above to go to the visualization of the feature requests or go to the accessible version of feature requests..

*Core-General category includes some requests which are already being addressed in BP Trac as well as others with less than 1%.

Comments about BuddyPress or Survey

<3
You may have caught me at a bad time, I can't get my old group forums to work on group/sitewide so I am kinda in a snit right now. Thanks for all you work, I wish I knew more about programming so I could help out.
Very fine product but needs a lot of TLC in production environment. Still very grateful for the enormous job it takes to develop and support it. Thanks!!
The BuddyPress community is excellent. The help community on the BuddyPress support forums is outstanding, and suggestions from end users for future improvements are taken seriously.
Thanks!
Keep up the good work!
I've been trying to learn BuddyPress for about a year. Setup is super easy. Mods are always a pain. I understand this has to do with community support. Everybody wants answers. Few pitch in to help. How can a beginner, who wants to learn BuddyPress, Help?
survey is ok, BuddyPress is cool, but as of now i use it as side social thingy to some WordPress sites, is nicer than putting a forum like bbPress, but it doesnt have the features to be a standalone social network, especially on media to compete with other social based software.
no comments, just a big THANK YOU for all your hard work!
Thank you for such a great software and all you effort!
Love the work everyone is doing with this plugin. It's far more than a plugin.
I Love Buddypress!
Love BuddyPress. Looking forward to creating more awesome things with it and watching it grow. I plan to be more involved with the Budd
yPress project and contribute to core.
it.s not yet social enough...
THANKS
Please add "conferences/meetups" as a choice for how people have contributed to BuddyPress.
Nice !
I used to use Ning but it got too klugey and expensive. I have a user base of over 200 people and am just now migrating them over. I'm not a developer, although I work with one. I'm happy that BuddyPress is around, but I find myself writing all of my user documentation. I'd love to see an easier user experience and documentation that's written for non-technical users.
Solid survey.
Hope to see some much needed features integrated into the core so I won't have an extra 30 plugin-add-ons for it. Same goes for bbPress as I often use both together.
not really , but hey if the developers could put some focus on bbPress and their trac tickets and contribute more over there i bet it would help them alot i bet.
Thank you for making BuddyPress happen!
Great product!
I love BuddyPress and hope the community around it continues to grow.
Quite simply - you guys are all awesome.
Thank you Buddypress that you exist.
Performance wise BP sucks because of the heavy disk usage needed for loading theme files. This is in part a problem with WordPress as well. We're working on moving away from BP to a custom coded solution because of this overhead. Currently we are running 3 front end app servers with 3 database back end servers. (both front and back end are load balanced) We can definitely scale horizontally but the page speed just isn't where it needs to be.
Keep up the good work. it is an awesome project and I wish all the best.
Love Buddypress, would like to see it grow.
I've used BP for a LONG time but have never felt as though I've gotten its full potential so my remarks around incorporating some of the features bbPress is lacking (compared to Discourse mainly) and adding social profile connectivity for account creation/login (UserPro) would be huge! UserPro also has a number of addons that enhance the system a lot.
BuddyPress and its community is awesome! Thanks to all the team and all the people that make it possible :)
BuddyPress and bbPress combo is excellent. I think Just a few minor integration tweaks for smoother install integration on existing sites and one location set up under its own heading. For me, I loaded BuddyPress and bbPress on Avada theme with tons of plugins, folders, multi user levels and access. It worked straight out of the box. FANTASTIC. out of all that, only 2 minor glitches: 1. on admin back end panel, forums doesn't have "add forums tab", 2. when logged in it changed the sticky menu bar to transparent. Out of all it had to do, that was pretty genius. Thanks. p.s. I wouldn't mind some help in fixing these 2 points. Over all "9.89" out of 10
Add place in BuddyPress.org for "ideas".
Honestly, any feature you want to revamp, just look at EasySocial for inspiration. I recently made the switch to WordPress after years on Joomla with both EasySocial and JomSocial. I am shocked by how poor BuddyPress is in comparison. Please get a proper composer, please get a proper backend, please get proper cover photos etc. Also, when it says X changed their display pic, their should be replaced with his or her.
Hard to do on a phone!
Keep up the good work. Things have come a long way in the last few years, and I've really enjoyed using and building sites with BuddyPress!
I like where BP is heading and the new support it is getting. The past year has been a good one for BuddyPress.
keep it going... I thought BP was dead so its good to see if coming alive more
BP is great and I love it!
Very good Plugin! Please include more Features out of the Box and a standard Template with built in BuddyPress navigation on the base of the actual WordPress Theme.
Keep up the good work and THANKS for all the hard work!!!
Thanks contributors for their hard work. BP community is awesome and I'm happy to be part of it.
I cannot thank the developers and the community enough. BuddyPress is overall a joy to use and has made our niche social network an accessible project. Thank you sincerely.
Thank you for your tireless contributions and making it possible for developers like myself to create social media / member sites. You guys rock and if you were to develop more plugins that were supported/compatible for a price you would do well. There is a lot of value in the system you have created and it's ok to make $$
Good stuff!
I hope I could help in BuddyPress development by participating in this survey. I will continue now onwards. I Thank you every one who has contributed in development of WordPress, BuddyPress, bbPress and other BuddyPress & bbPress compatible plugins and themes. Thank you. I will look forward to receive mails [edited] to contribute in BuddyPress development.
Thank you to all who make BuddyPress! It's one of the main reasons I became interested in WordPress.
I started working with BuddyPress last year and really believe in this platform. I want to build BuddyPress systems for the next few years and learn how I can give back to this community. Thank you for sharing this with the world.
Thanks for your works !
Great job guys, love the BP and keep up the good work.
Why did you ask for gender? But not # of years / depth of experience as a developer?
Great work!
You guys rock!
Thank you for all the good work you have done. BuddyPress have many useful features that even many commercial plugins are lacking. I think it is the most mature social network solution for WordPress. Although I am new to BuddyPress, I find it easy to setup the BuddyPress installation and make it to work within a short time.
I love BuddyPress. Thanks to all the developers and community supporters!
Pretty good so far but always has room for improvement.
So delighted that this project has grown and thriving.
Continue the great improvements. In comparison from BuddyPress 2014 to 2015; very successful milestones through out the year.
BuddyPress.org needs a big design and content cleanup. It doesn't represent BuddyPress as well as it could and is confusing to use both for new and longtime BP users.
Good job!
BuddyPress isnt evolving. User want cool butifule user experience, and that is realy hard to do with BuddyPress (ex. customizine BuddyPress menu and submenu)
BuddyPress is the best community solution ever.
BuddyPress is some distance behind the features people now expect of modern social networks. OK for school, or small intranet purposes, but to call it social networking in a box is slightly stretching reality.
BuddyPress is awful. The current code needs sending to trash and a fresh start made. It's so bad I'm actually going to make my own social network plugin that does everything BP does and more, just so I don't ever have to use BP again. I also reject BP based jobs...that's how much I detest it.
good continuation
BuddyPress is at the moment especialy technical driven. I think there must be more collaboration/teamwork between technique and content. For instance: the most of the BuddyPress articles are going about the technical aspects, but there are few about how popular BuddyPress is, how you can make BuddyPress to a success, etc. Technique and content are living on two different islands. When people read more about this, they get more curious. Maybe there must be a big brainstorm or even a conference with the key actors and users how BuddyPress can functions and how it can be better, with new and innovative features, so that it will be more popular. What i suppose? BuddyPress is a sleeping giant, but must still awakening...
Thanks a lot Mercime for your great work on this new survey.
BuddyPress is a wonderful plugin and should be developed with the same commitment as further WordPress.
BuddyPress has been an overall good experience with the 10 or so sites I have developed.
good initiative...
Please also develop bbPress more often. Have I mentioned the Hierarchical layout (for the bbPress forums)? :D
I like the goal of this survey to better BuddyPress, it gives a better impression that the BuddyPress developers would like to improve it.
thanks for making it... it rocks.
I love it.
Encore !
The survey seems weird in parts, e.g. what is the difference between "I have BP installed on my own site" and "I am the site-admin of a BP installation"?
Keep up the great work!
Love BuddyPress