The Idea Department

Esther Dyson, founding chairman of ICANN, has written ‘What’s in a Domain Name?’, published by Project Syndicate.

In this piece, Dyson reflects on the pros and cons of expanding namespace through the addition of new top-level domain names following the usual dot. And replacing the usual ‘com’ or ‘org’.

Dyson reflects that companies will now be forced into spending thousands in adding to the value of their new domain names, in order to expand brand association further than what has already been established through advertising.

She explains that companies will be charged for each divided section of their chosen domain name, using the example: ‘.green’

If one company employs the top level domain name ‘.green’, the supposed advantage would be extreme brand association, such as that of organic food being ‘green’, which would stick in the mind of a consumer. This association would outweigh the expense of thousands on purchasing the name itself, though Dyson writes: ‘New TLDs are likely to create money for ICANN’s primary constituents, but only add costs and confusion for companies and the public at large’.

Though, she adds the looming and contradictory point that Domain Name Systems will eventually loose their value to the popular usage of social networking sites, through which preferable and relatable websites can be found easily by members.

Is this expansion of domain names simply a ‘superfluous expense’ in the meantime while waiting for the extinction of their necessity? Or a brand-expanding advantage for companies?

 Read the piece here,

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/dyson35/English