As I am getting ready for the GeoDomain Expo, I wanted to chime in on some of the Geo Domain noise that is prefacing the event held in San Diego at the end of this month. We have all heard the breaking news regarding major newspapers closing their doors. It is not just smaller publications, but some that you wouldn't think would fold like Seattle Post-Intelligencer run by Hearst and those mentioned in TIME the 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America. With this tough economy and various traditional forms of communication becoming obsolete, it is clear that owning a piece of virtual real estate is a wise investment. Are geo domains going to play a key role in transforming media? I think they will.
This question will be a key component of the discussions at the GeoDomain Expo. In conjunction with expert panels, it will be interesting to see if domainers will put their money where their months are. Coincidentally, there will be an auction run by Aftermarket.com. They are currently selecting a geo-centric portfolio to auction including .com, .org, and .info domain names. If you own geo specific names that are non-abbreviated, place names, or combination names within specific geo categories such as insurance, travel, jobs, real estate, you have until April 10th to submit.
However, with the changing Internet landscape, I think opening the auction to cctlds and the major geo draw of .travel into the portfolio mix would be wise. Currently, .com is still King, but as traditional media are starting to fall, so will the "old" way of searching for information. The trend is to further segment information as shown by the popular sites such as LinkedIn for professional contacts, specific groups in Facebook, TheLadders for executive level jobs, and the list continues. This is also certainly true when dealing with destinations. We are all witness to the importance of cctlds, language, and category specific extensions like .travel in this next chapter of the Internet.
This opinion is supported by others.
Check out this blog post from The Frager Factor pointing out the transition to extensions other than .com.
And this YouTube video provided by the government of Colombia:
Addressing this topic will be a panel on Saturday afternoon entitled, Future of GeoDomains and new TLDs. Panelists will include the Castello Brothers of Castello Cities Internet Network and members of the ICANN Business Constituency, Jothan Frakes of Minds + Machines and Phil Corwin, General Counsel for Internet Commerce Association with Tim Cole, Chief Registrar Liaison at ICANN.
I look forward to hearing their take on opening the world of geo domains to alternative extensions, cctlds, .travel and others.
However, with the changing Internet landscape, I think opening the auction to cctlds and the major geo draw of .travel into the portfolio mix would be wise. Currently, .com is still King, but as traditional media are starting to fall, so will the "old" way of searching for information. The trend is to further segment information as shown by the popular sites such as LinkedIn for professional contacts, specific groups in Facebook, TheLadders for executive level jobs, and the list continues. This is also certainly true when dealing with destinations. We are all witness to the importance of cctlds, language, and category specific extensions like .travel in this next chapter of the Internet.
This opinion is supported by others.
Check out this blog post from The Frager Factor pointing out the transition to extensions other than .com.
And this YouTube video provided by the government of Colombia:
Addressing this topic will be a panel on Saturday afternoon entitled, Future of GeoDomains and new TLDs. Panelists will include the Castello Brothers of Castello Cities Internet Network and members of the ICANN Business Constituency, Jothan Frakes of Minds + Machines and Phil Corwin, General Counsel for Internet Commerce Association with Tim Cole, Chief Registrar Liaison at ICANN.
I look forward to hearing their take on opening the world of geo domains to alternative extensions, cctlds, .travel and others.
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