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Internet getting ready for a flood of new domain names and extensions

By Jeff Bressler for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:July 16, 2009

It might sound like a name in a Monty Python skit but the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the actual international body that oversees the naming structure for the internet. If you didn’t know who they were you will be hearing about them a lot more in the near future.

Over the next year the ICANN will oversee a significant expansion of domain names and extensions.

The standard extensions that include .com, .org, .net etc. will soon be joined by a variety of new tags including .film, .microsoft and on the commercial end, names such as .nike.

Currently there are a conservative 280 top level domains, new additions will substantial add to the (.) menu.

While this seems like a logical step in the evolution of the internet, early surveys show that consumers are not enamored with the potential additions.

A survey facilitated by Gandi and The Future Laboratory revealed that 65% of consumers polled believe the internet will become full of pointless domain names, and 57% said it would be messy and confusing.

Currently many consumers that are looking for a brand just enter that name followed by .com to get to the corporate site.

Personally, I see both the pro and con in this new internet development.

For business I can certainly see the benefit of having a company tagged with an extension like .nike, but it will take a huge marketing initiative to get consumers to visit the newly tagged sites under the Nike banner.

From a consumer standpoint, the change will create a potentially large amount of additional research to reach a site.

With the new domain names, consumers will have to rely on search engines even more to find what they are looking for. Currently many people still type in the full URL into a search engine. Internet users will need to learn a new way of navigating the web so that they know they are able to find brands in ‘vertical sectors’ such as music at .music, or environmental information at .eco.

It will be interesting to see the free for all when the floodgates are opened and companies like Sony and Apple duke it out for names like the aforementioned .music.

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