SXSW 2012: .Co, .Net, new TLDs, and SEO.com

Four connections to domain names at SXSW.

SXSW 2012 Interactive kicked off on Thursday in Austin, Texas, with lots of “domain” attractions.

.Co – .co was a big sponsor this year, hosting numerous parties and sponsoring panels and giveaways.

Friday night it sponsored the “Celebration of American Startups” event at Austin City Limits. Saturday night it sponsored TechCocktail. Steve Case made an appearance (below) at TechCocktail and told everyone in the crowd to visit S.co (the web site for Startup America Partnership).

On Sunday .co rented a townhouse on 6th Street and invited companies using the .co domain to stop by.

.Co also made a big appearance in the Startup Bus competition. Half of the eight finalists used .co domains, including runner up BumperCrop.co.

.Net – .net (i.e. VeriSign) held a party Sunday night inviting people to give seven second pitches on just about anything. Or an excuse to drink beer, I believe.

.Net also has a booth and is promoting the site I highlighted recently, getyour.net.

New TLDs – there are two talks on new top level domains at the show. Sunday afternoon I listened to Rob Garner of iCrossing discuss new top level domains. Today Jeremiah Johnston of Sedo will give a similar presentation.

SEO.com – Finally, there was a Mike Mann sighting at SXSW. Not Mike himself, but one of his companies: SEO.com. All I know about their presence is this SUV I passed on the road Saturday night. But it’s something.