Facebook will likely apply for .facebook.
Will Facebook apply for the new top level domain name Facebook? Most likely.
This popped up on my radar today when Facebook changed the nameservers for the domain name dotFacebook.com to its main servers. I researched the domain and found that Facebook acquired it after it expired in 2010.
Now, given that this domain was previously owned by someone else, I wouldn’t assume that it is an indication of the company’s plans by itself. Poking around I found this video on YouTube that suggests plans for a Facebook top level domain name. Yet the video was uploaded by someone in the UK a couple years ago using the username “dotfacebook”. It only has 155 views.
I do think Facebook will apply for .facebook for a few reasons:
1. It’s relatively cheap for the company
2. It doesn’t want to lose edge to another social networking site that may offer second level branded domains to its clients. (That said, I don’t see much value here. They can already offer third level and sort of offer directory URLs at the superior FB.com domain name. And they don’t have to pay an ICANN fee for each of these domains.)
3. The company can’t apply for .fb because it’s too short.
jack says
they also transferred facebookstudios.com, does that mean they’re going to open a studio too?
this could all just be recovery/registration of defensive domains.
theo says
I think they will apply for their own TLD.
Puts an end to all the facebook typo domains..Will take 5 years or more before everyone is used too it and some will just use google to surf to facebook and never type a domain name in the address bar of their browser.
Jothan says
Wish I could comment more on the TLD, but @jack is correct with respect to the dotfacebook.com domain.
RH says
Could get it and never use it.
Millions connect to Facebook through an app on their phone or ipad.
The cost would be nothing for them, as these companies get big they have to spend on stuff just for protection.
TechCrunch did a story on how Google will spend billions on a patent portfolio just for protection against companies like Microsoft, Apple and IBM etc…
Mansour says
You have to ask yourself if you rather have your readers go to Facebook.com/DomainNameWire or
DomainNameWire.FaceBook
considering that you will pay $10 a year for the second one! good income for Facebook.
Oatmeal5 says
Why would they possibly want to use that when they already spent megabucks to buy FB.Com, a hands-down, much better buy.
Yeah, Wendy’s owns Wendys.Jobs…but it simply redirects to wendys.com/careers. If FB uses a new gtld at all, I suspect it will simply be a redirect to the main .com site.
The entire new gtld idea is foolish and I just don’t see it taking off successfully.
Jaroslaw Dolega says
It’s a natural step to take domain .facebook. It gives many possibilities to use for future development of the FB and for user convenience (e.g. address johnsmith.facebook for a page or [email protected] for e-mail). FB could also sell the domain to companies e.g. coke.facebook.
Facebook is already straining to protect its name. A necessary expense for the win. Facebook is a drop in the bucket for them.
JP says
So how many views does the YouTube video have now?
Lilian says
You’ve probably seen that the dotberliners have implanted the .facebook idea to marc and nils already in 2008: http://dotberlin.de/de/node/748