Are websites less important than they used to be?
Let me start by noting that this is not a story about youngsters visiting new TLDs rather than .com. It’s about the younger generation not visiting domain names at all.
Business of Fashion published an interesting look at publications launching on social media first, albeit often adding a website later on.
An example is Clique Media Group, which launched the new “publication” Obsessee. If you go to Obsessee.com, all you see are links to 10 social media platforms, from SnapChat to Instagram to Twitter.
There’s no content on Obsessee. All of the content lives on social media channels.
The article discusses other publications or spin-offs that started solely on social media. Many of these have added a website after their social media presence took off.
In some ways, this seems like a unique way to test the market for a publication before spending development dollars on it.
Yes, Domain Name Wire readers are sure to point out the problem of depending on third-party social media sites, which inevitably end up charging you for access to your readers.
Still, a trend is a trend, and it could have ramifications for the domain name industry.
Clique Media CEO gave the money quote: “Gen Z are not [visiting] dot coms.”
I’ll point out that every social profile Clique Media set up for Obsessee has a link to Obsessee.com.
Joseph Peterson says
Every audience and type of content is has its own most efficient venue or channel.
Sometimes you build and own the platform; sometimes you participate on somebody else’s platform.
I don’t think this is radically new. Since the 1990s there have been merchants selling exclusively on Ebay with no e-commerce sites of their own. More bread is sold in the USA through supermarkets than dedicated bakeries. Authors have always mainly sold in bookstores or on Amazon. Magazine-style content never was sold at special stores devoted to 1 magazine.
These things are always in flux. And some trends are going the other way: toward autonomy and individualism. Musicians, for instance, are much more likely to distribute their own material than they were in the heyday of music labels. Frequently they use their own site in conjunction with various channels like Facebook and SoundCloud.
John says
They are visiting social media web sites, on .coms. As they get a little older, they will probably figure that out too.
Oren Arbit says
ironically, Clique Media also owns a company called MyDomaine
Equalizer says
A counterpoint to that tabloid type of title:
http://dngeek.com/2016/04/100-newly-funded-startups-domain-names-projector-com-comedy-com-begin-com/
talk is cheap
steve says
I believe the author of the “money quote” means Gen Z are not typing or tapping in .com or any extension to get to the desired app, site or chatbot.
In other words, they either access the app or search for what they want:
Slack, yikyak, tinder, wechat, bumble, buzzfeed
However, the search queries I cited ALL have .com domains, for directory or index or hosting.
For that matter, is there any generation that really taps or types in the domain extensions — maybe late Boomers or late Bloomers?
MewTwoX says
I know fairly certainly this report is wrong, not only does Gen Z know about .com they are actually quite fluent in other gTLDs. Many Gen Z are avid gamers, and league of legends players etc. They utilize the .gg TLD more than anyone. And also the international space, I know for a face Generation Z is very fluid in how to navigate the internet.
Perhaps they are asking the wrong questions? It really doesn’t make sense, because you ask any kid and they know about apps, and domain names websites, pretty much everything.