gTLD and the future of the Internet. What generic top level domains might mean for businesses and the future of the Internet. Marcos Richardson

1. GTLD
Specula-on
The
Future
of
the
Internet
December,
2013
WHAT
MIGHT
gTLD
MEAN
FOR
BUSINESSES
AND
THE
FUTURE
OF
THE
INTERNET?

2. Overview
On
20th
June,
2011,
ICANN
said
that
new
Generic
Top
Level
Domains
(gTLDs),
in
any
words
and
in
any
language
and
with
special
characters
based
on
IETF
standards,
will
be
released
for
countries,
individuals
and
corpora-ons
to
promote
digital
informa-on.
The
new
ICCANN
and
WC3
standards
advance
the
ability
to
control
and
target
traffic
as
the
Web
expands
beyond
the
realms
of
‘.com’;
‘.org’;
‘.net’
and
‘Country
Code
Top
Level
Domain
(ccTLD).
There
are
currently
1,814
ac-ve
applica-ons
for
new
gTLDs
This
paper
looks
at
the
possible
impacts
on
business
and
speculates
on
the
future
of
the
World
Wide
Web
in
light
of
the
gTDLs
gTLD
choice
of
applica3ons
1
Large
corpora-ons
have,
for
the
most
part,
been
considering
the
purchase
of
their
[dot+Brand
Name]
as
a
specula-ve
and
defensive
move,
whilst
s-ll
holding
onto
.com
2
Government
agencies
are
showing
interest
in
purchasing
country
and
regional
extensions,
such
as
the
recent
.London
acquisi-on
by
the
mayor
of
London
3
Some
companies,
such
as
Amazon,
Apple,
Yahoo
and
Google,
are
applying
for
a
host
of
[dot
+Generic]
names
4
5
Syndica-ons
are
looking
at
opportuni-es
to
own
a
niche
ver-cal
space.
For
example,
[.Health]
would
appeal
to
health
networks
such
as
NHS,
WebMD,
pharma
companies
and
authori-es
such
as
the
FDA
or
MHRA.
It
is
conceivable
that,
as
a
heavily
regulated
industry,
informa-on,
marke-ng
and
promo-on
should
be
subject
to
a
regulated
framework
and
housed
in
one
area
on
the
Internet
for
consumer
protec-on.
Other
areas
where
syndica-ons
might
consider
crea-ng
niche
access
[.Banking];
[.Movies];
[.Music]
etc.
Crowd-­‐sourcing
is
a
new
way
to
afford
specula-ve
purchasing
(which
is
usually
cost-­‐prohibi-ve
for
smaller
companies
and
individuals)
Future
of
the
Internet
–
Marcos
Richardson
Page
1

3. The
playing
field
The
following
gTLDs
are
a
few
[dot
+extensions]
Google
and
Amazon
have
registered
for
purchase
Google
WEB
APP
BOOK
BUY
FREE
GAME
MAP
MOVIE
MUSIC
PLAY
SEARCH
SHOP
STORE
TALK
FILM
FLY
BABY
SITE
PET
MED
MOV
HOME
HOW
LIVE
LOVE
CAR
CHANNEL
DIY
EAT
FAMILY
Amazon
APP
ROOM
BOOK
BUY
FREE
GAME
MAP
MOVIE
MUSIC
PLAY
SEARCH
SHOP
STORE
TALK
SECURE
SHOW
SAVE
AUTHOR
READ
NEWS
MOBILE
PAY
KIDS
MAIL
SONG
TUNES
VIDEO
CALL
COUPON
DRIVE
Business
Impact
҈ A
key
considera-on
is
that
Search
Engines,
such
as
Google,
have
the
power
to
include
or
block
any
new
extensions
on
their
network.
It
is
within
the
Search
Engines’
interest
to
allow
[dot+Brand]
and
[dot
+Loca-on]
extensions,
however
some
[dot+Generic]
names
may
pose
a
threat
and
be
subject
to
blocking.
҈ On
the
flip
side,
owners
of
a
unique
[dot+extension]
have
the
ability
to
restrict
access
to
users
and
search
engines
and
offer
registra-ons
outside
of
their
own
organisa-on,
and
even
have
their
own
internal
search
mechanism.
҈ The
big
Internet
players
are
vying
for
some
poten-ally
valuable
generics.
They
have
the
user
mass
to
change
the
way
we
search
and
where
we
search.
Google
has
the
most
to
lose
as
the
current
dominant
search
engine
for
the
English
speaking
world.
Amazon
could
get
.store;
Yahoo
could
get
.news;
and
Apple
could
get
.APP
and
very
quickly
build
ver-cal
search
engines
or
communi-es
from
their
exis-ng
user
base.
҈ There
is
also
the
opportunity
to
grow
a
completely
new
community,
given
the
right
idea.
If,
let’s
say,
you
owned
[dot+innova-on]
and
the
idea
caught
on
virally
within
social
media
circles,
this
would
side-­‐step
and
negate
search
engines.
There
is
room
for
many
ideas
such
as
a
new
technology
i.e.
[game]
-­‐
an
interac-ve
global
gaming
plajorm,
[music],
[news]
etc.
[dot+Loca3on]
The
domain
name,
or
Unique
Resource
Locator
(URL),
is
one
of
the
elements
search
engines
take
into
considera-on
when
deciding
the
theme
of
a
web
page,
lis-ng
and
loca-ng
local
resources
on
the
Internet.
With
the
new
update
and
implementa-on
of
[dot+Loca-on],
search
engines
will
find
it
easier
to
hone
in
on
regional
dialects,
and
serve
more
locally
relevant
content.
73%
of
Online
Ac.vity
is
related
to
Local
Content
Source:
Google
New
gTLDs
open
up
the
possibility
that
the
TLD
could
be
an
important
ranking
factor
in
the
future.
For
example,
you
can
imagine
that
sites
on
a
.london
domain
could
conceivably
be
rewarded
(and
thus
rank
bemer)
for
queries
containing
'london'
and
also
queries
iden-fied
as
being
about
London
or
having
regional
relevance
to
London.
So,
if
you
have
a
strong
customer
base
within
the
local
community
of
London,
purchasing
[.London]
to
amract
locals
or
companies
targe-ng
London
is
a
good
idea.
[dot+Generic]
There
is
the
opportunity
for
[dot+Generic]
networks
(given
the
right
user
mass)
to
adver-se
in
a
niche
network
to
a
highly
targeted
audience.
Future
of
the
Internet
–
Marcos
Richardson
Page
2

4. Future
of
the
Internet
and
Search
The
bamle
has
always
been,
and
con-nues
to
be,
over
ownership
and
control
of
WWW
entry
points.
When
we
say
‘entry
points’
we
are
not
talking
about
technical
connec-vity,
such
as
Broadband,
we
are
looking
at
points
where
consumers
and
business
first
start
their
search
journey…
҈ Search
Engines
҈ Social
Media
҈ Browsers
҈ PC/Mobile
factory
set
home
pages
(i.e.
Microsoq
Store)
҈ Book-­‐marked
serngs
҈ Tools
҈ Document
storage
Whoever
owns
the
entry
point
has
the
power
to
adver-se
directly
to
the
consumer
and
business,
and
push
traffic
to
business
websites.
PORTAL
17%
CONTENT
SITES
31%
SOCIAL
11%
SEARCH
41%
gTLDs
have
the
poten-al
to
open
up
the
playing
field
from
the
current
domina-ng
companies.
Those
that
are
scep-cal
about
the
poten-al
for
gTLDs
to
change
the
Internet
playing
field
and
take
a
share
from
dominant
data
sources
like
Google
should
note
a
recent
ar-cle
released
by
SINTEF
sta-ng,
“90%
of
all
the
data
in
the
world
has
been
generated
over
the
last
two
years”.
Source:
www.sintef.no
Recommenda3ons
Businesses
should
consider
gerng
brand
varia-ons
of
the
gTLDs
on
the
expecta-on
that
they
could
be
valuable
in
the
future
and
are
important
to
have
in
order
to
avoid
domain
name-­‐squamers
holding
brands
to
ransom
for
obviously
relevant
extensions.
We
know
that
Brand
searches
tend
to
bring
in
the
vast
majority
of
searches
for
company
websites.
This,
alongside
the
release
of
Google
Knowledge
Graph
(whereby
visitors
for
brand
searches
are
being
pulled
away
from
a
company’s
brand
website)
owning
[dot+Brand]
extension
presents
an
opportunity
for
consumers
to
find
the
brand
website
and
content
they
are
looking
for,
quicker.
Companies
with
a
decent
network
user
mass
should
consider
[dot+Generic]
to
adver-se
in
a
niche
network
to
a
highly
targeted
audience.
The
cost
is
s-ll
prohibi-ve
for
the
small
business
and
individual
however
with
syndica-on
and
crowd
sourcing
there
could
be
an
opportunity
to
own
the
next
big
media
site.
Future
of
the
Internet
–
Marcos
Richardson
Page
3