Online Reputation Management Blog

ICANN Ready to Revolutionize Domain Name Registration (Again)

Are you ready to be master of your Domain?  Starting January 12, 2012 you may have your chance!  ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and its Board of Directors approved a bold new plan to change the Internet’s Domain Name System.  The Board plans to allow an increase in the number of Internet  address endings – called generic top-level domains (gTLDs) – from the current 22, which includes such common domains as .com, .org and .net.  The price? Only $185,000 – or Bill Gates’s pocket change.
 
According to Rod Beckstrom, ICANN’s President and Chief Executive Officer, “ICANN has opened the Internet’s naming system to unleash the global human imagination. Today’s decision respects the rights of groups to create new Top Level Domains in any language or script. We hope this allows the domain name system to better serve all of mankind.”
 
Internet address names will be able to end with almost any word in any language, offering individuals and entities around the world the opportunity to market their brand, products, community or cause in new and creative ways.
 
This has tremendous implications for the online reputation management community.  The chance to take greater control over your name or brand and reclaim exclusivity from a generation of cybersquatters.  It also will reshuffle search engine rankings in profound ways.  Because applicants for a new Domain will have to go through an extensive vetting process, the new domain names will have a level of authority that will ultimately be recognized by Google, Bing and others.
 
ICANN will have a lot more details to say over the coming months.  But the potential is exciting.  From .gaga to .matrix, for a mere $185,000 you have the chance to carve out your own space in cyberspace.