I knew that .com was celebrating its 30th anniversary / birthday, but I did not realize (or think about) that .net has also been around for 30 years. In celebration of this, Verisign (the company that operates the .net registry) published the infographic below with some neat facts about .net and .net domain names.
Four of the more interesting call outs in the infographic include the following:
- Largest public sale was Mobile.net for $500,000
- 15 million .net domain names registered
- Find was the most common keyword in .net domain names registered in 2015
- There are 63 registered .net domain names that contain the maximum 63 characters
Check out the infographic below to learn more about .net:
Thanks for posting this Elliot. I’ve been wondering what the stats on .net have been. It’s encouraging to see that .net is still a solid extension. It seems to me that many of the .net domains are undervalued at the moment. I have a friend who became a top Canadian businesswoman using a .net website, and she did the bulk of her business online!
I still don’t understand why so many domain investors don’t like .NET especially with all of the new gTLDs being released. It has such a clear meaning with a good reputation to go with it. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I think .NET is underrated and has a good chance at really blossoming now with end users.
Why would you want a .XYZ, .Online or .Web when you have .NET which is far superior.
Hype. Domainers, like most consumers, respond to it. Day after day, we’ve been conditioned to view the last 2 years as a .COM versus nTLD battle … which is mostly nonsense.
Registrars have been promoting nTLDs because each new release is (temporarily) their fastest way to make money.
Bloggers have been talking about the nTLDs because the parade of new extensions provides a steady stream of easy-to-reach-for news. Release dates to publish. Stats to publish. Practically auto-pilot.
Also, my inner cynic says that fanning the flames of controversy is an easy way to boost blog engagement. Domainers love to bicker and argue. As long as truth lies in the future, we can confidently say anything we want. Talking about the present is harder. People are reluctant to do it because facts have a tendency to show up and tap us on the shoulder. So bloggers who want to solicit 100 bellicose opinions at the drop of a hat will just ask, “What do you think about the future of nTLDs?” Presto! Like making toast.
But, of course, the name space has long had many TLD options. ccTLDs and established gTLDs aren’t discussed nearly as much as they deserve. Altogether they’re FAR more important online than all the nTLDs combined at this stage.
If you want to look at the “King of the Non Coms” (to coin a phrase), look no further:
.NET.
“Bloggers have been talking about the nTLDs because the parade of new extensions provides a steady stream of easy-to-reach-for news. Release dates to publish. Stats to publish. Practically auto-pilot.”
Yes, I agree.
“Also, my inner cynic says that fanning the flames of controversy is an easy way to boost blog engagement.”
Maybe it is, but I abhor getting involved in controversy. I have much better things to do than referee a pissing contest that doesn’t usually end up with a resolution.
I think I tend to stay far away from controversy and my blog gets a fair amount of comments, especially insightful ones (like yours!).
InterNET is old. WEB is the thing now.
Great post!