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Could FB.CO be The Next Facebook Domain Name Acquisition Confirmation?

Elliot Silver
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Facebook .CO Domain Registry

Earlier this afternoon, I speculated that FB.com could possibly be used by Facebook for the expected launch of the Facebook mail client/platform next week.  About an hour ago, Andrew Allemann published an article that confirmed Facebook was the buyer of FB.com after a Whois update.

I am now going to take a guess that Facebook may have acquired or worked out a deal for  FB.CO from the .CO Registry. This is more of guess than was the FB.com purchase since the Whois still maintains the default “Restricted and Reserved names .COInternet”, but here’s why I am speculating:

If you visit FB.CO right now, you’ll see a MediaTemple server default page. If you visit many other 2 letter .CO domain names, they don’t resolve to anything. Strange that this appears to be pending set up but the other names don’t have any DNS settings at all.

Just before the O.CO acquisition for $350,00 by Overstock was announced, I had been looking at one letter .CO domain names to see if I noticed anything. As I recall, the e.CO domain name had a page announcing the upcoming auction, but just about every other domain name didn’t resolve… except for O.CO.  That name had a Media Temple server default page.

So… will Facebook or the .CO Registry have an announcement about FB.CO on Monday?  If Facebook did acquire FB.CO in addition to FB.com, did they do it for protective measures or to do something different?  Monday is going to be a very interesting day,

Could Facebook Launch a Mail Service on FB.com? ** Updated **

Elliot Silver
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Facebook.At the end of September, I wrote an article speculating that perhaps Facebook purchased FB.com in private. There hasn’t been any public acknowledgement about whether the company bought it or not (or who may have bought it if Facebook didn’t), and the domain name still does not resolve.  See update below.

Multiple websites are reporting that Facebook will be holding an invite-only event in San Francisco on Monday, November 15th, and it is expected they will announce a new email system or platform that Techcrunch has dubbed “Facebook’s Gmail Killer.” According to the folks at Techcrunch, this project has been referred to internally as “Project Titan.”

This is pure speculation, but it would be pretty neat if they launched this mail service on FB.com (if they own this domain name now confirmed that Facebook owns it). Assuming it is a mail service they intend to launch on Monday, they could also use another name like FacebookMail.com (which they already own), or they could just tie it in with Facebook.com.

In my opinion, launching a mail service on FB.com would be a great idea. I am sure there are still plenty of people who still think Facebook is just for social networking, despite the company’s growth and evolution. By using FB.com, they could somewhat disassociate from the Facebook brand, which could make a mail service @FB.com look more professional and serious. I think it would look strange to receive a job application from someone emailing me from Facebook, perhaps somewhat unprofessional in my opinion.

Google moved away from the Google name when it started its GMail platform, and I think it would be a smart idea for Facebook to use FB.com for mail, if they did in fact acquire the domain name.

**8:45pm Update**

As Andrew pointed out within the last hour, the Whois information for FB.com has changed, and Facebook is now listed as the owner (see screenshot below).  Additionally, FB.com is now forwarding to Facebook.com.


Domain Name Implications as Company Fights Over New Hampshire Geographical Trademark: Mount Washington

Elliot Silver
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Mount Washington in New Hampshire

I grew up in southern New Hampshire and I skied in NH’s White Mountains many times, so this story was interesting for business and personal reasons. It’s also something that Dark Blue Sea should note because of a domain name in its portfolio.

According to ABC television affiliate WMUR, it looks like the owner of the Mt. Washington Hotel (a landmark hotel in the region) is fighting to prevent other lodging businesses from using the term, “Mount Washington.” The interesting aspect of this is that there is a mountain called Mount Washington where the hotels are located, hence the geographical descriptor.

If you live on the East Coast, you’ve probably seen the bumper stickers that say, “This car has climbed Mt. Washington,” and that’s the term that is being battled for right now (specifically related to lodging according to the article).

One reason this is interesting from a domain standpoint is that the company could come after seemingly generic domain names like MountWashingtonHotels.com, which happens to be owned by DBS subsidiary Protopixel.

Although Mt. Washington isn’t that big, imagine if a hotel/resort named the  the Las Vegas Resort or the Europe Spa tried to trademark those regional terms with regards to lodging. High value domain names like LasVegasHotels.com or EuropeVacations.com could conceivably come under pressure from the trademark owner if they were permitted to do so.

This may be a big leap, but if a precedent is set legally, I am sure others will attempt to follow suit. It’s just some food for thought.

Photo: Flickr

Marketing a Domain Name at a Tradeshow

Elliot Silver
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Chocolate Pretzels

I’ve mentioned it in the past (can’t find it right now), so I will mention it again now. I think it might be a smart idea to attend an industry tradeshow in a vertical where you are selling a domain name to try and close a deal.

My Dad sent me a link this morning to the 2010 Chocolate Show, which happens to be taking place over the next couple of days in New York City. I am sure my Dad didn’t have this in mind when he sent it to me, but I recently acquired ChocolateCoveredPretzels.com in a secondary market purchase, and I would love to sell it.

I am planning on paying the $28.00 entry fee for the Chocolate Show to introduce myself to some of the producers of gourmet chocolate products to see if any would have an interest. Since many booths will be manned by marketing, sales, and c-suite staff, it could be a sweet opportunity to close a deal.

At the very least, I will satisfy my sweet tooth.  Anyone else want to come to this “business” tradeshow with me tomorrow?

Photo: Flickr

Go Ahead… Ask Your Domain Questions

Elliot Silver
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As a result of having a blog, I receive ALOT of emails asking every kind of domain related question you can probably imagine. Some questions are simple and require just a one word reply, while others are more complicated and thought provoking.

I haven’t always had time to answer all the questions that come in, especially when they require a more complicated answer or when I just don’t know the answer. I enjoy being able to help people, and it sucks to not be able to assist sometimes.

With that in mind, I decided to launch DomainQuestions.com, a new website where people can post questions and answers related to anything in the domain industry. Since many of the people who email me aren’t familiar with the domain industry, I felt that they wouldn’t necessarily want to join a forum, and they could easily sign up to post a question on DomainQuestions.com.

I intend to send people who ask me questions to this website to post them. On the site, I will do my best to answer the questions, and I hope others will contribute as well. I also plan to reach out to friends and colleagues when I see a question that I can’t (or shouldn’t answer).

One of the nice things is that I will have a place to send people when questions that were asked in the past are asked in the future. This will allow people to continue to post answers to older questions as well as newer questions. I am hoping this will become a domain knowledgebase, and I hope you will contribute or participate.

I am excited about DomainQuestions.com, and I hope to see you there.

Should Poker Companies Shift .NET to .CO?

Elliot Silver
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If you watched the World Series of Poker (or any professional poker tournament on television for that matter), you’ve probably seen all the big poker companies imploring wannabe poker players to visit their .NET websites instead of the flagship .COM sites.

I believe it’s due to US law regarding poker and gaming websites, where American citizens aren’t allowed to play poker online with real money. As a result, they aren’t allowed to market/advertise this “illegal” activity (this is all my thought and not necessarily fact). As a result, the poker companies promote the a .NET version of its brand which offers practice poker for fake money as well as tips and educational material.

The hope is that the players will realize the real action is found at the corresponding .COM and they’ll visit that website in the future. I would imagine they probably also don’t mind that some people only really pay attention to what comes before the extension, like Poker Stars or Full Tilt Poker, and they will directly navigate to the .COM instead.

Now that the .CO Registry has successfully launched and sold over 600,000 domain names, I am wondering if it would be a good idea for these poker parlors to ditch the .NET and switch to .CO. The advantage is that people are familiar with “CO” as an abbreviation for company, and because of it’s close proximity to .COM, it would align better with the .COM.

Of course, it could cause some type-in confusion, but that’s probably not a bad thing for the poker companies.

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