Here’s an interesting term: “Softsquatting”, as mentioned in a recent Wired article. Look at how many American Idol finalists have been either Softsquatted or Cybersquatted!
The term refers to people that register the domain names of up-and-coming stars before they become household names. The article explains that softsquatters don’t try to sell the domains to the celebrities for a king’s ransom, but try to forge a partnership with the celeb instead.
With reality TV it’s easy to find up-and-coming stars. When American Idol finalists reach the end of the competition their domains have already been snatched. I researched the 12 finalists on American Idol this year and found the following:
AceYoung.com – a fairly “un-name” name, this domain was registered in 2000 and has nothing to do with the American Idol contestant.
BuckyCovington.com – registered Feb 23, 2006 and listed for sale at Afternic and Sedo. Web site does not resolve.
ChrisDaughtry.com – registered Jan 11, 2006 and parked at GoDaddy. It’s Alexa rank is under 2,000,000, so it’s getting type-in traffic. All of the ads on the page point to American Idol.
ElliottYamin.com – registered Feb 22, 2006 by same guy that got BuckyCovington.com. Listed for sale at Afternic and Sedo and parked at Sedo.
KatherineMcPhee.com – registered Jan 26, 2006. Web site does not resolve.
KelliePickler.com – Registered Dec 9, 2005. Web site is not active.
KevinCovais.com – Registered Feb 2, 2006. Kevin Covais was voted off the show on March 22.
LisaTucker.com – a common name, the domain was registered to an author in 2002.
Mandisa.com – I haven’t been watching this season, but apparently this person only has one name. It was registered back in 2000.
MelissaMcGhee.com – Registered Feb 3, 2006 and used by a photographer of the same name. Melissa McGhee was voted off the show March 15.
ParisBennett.com – Registered Jan 24, 2006. No web site.
TaylorHicks.com – originally had a web site in 1999, but registered again in 2004. It appears to have been used by a musician…perhaps the actual contestant? As a common name it’s hard to tell.
Fox should make it a practice of registering the domains of its contestants before they become too popular.
Mike Secord says
The article you are referring to mentions me by name, my business, and my website at KimmieMeissner.com. It isn’t worded very well because it seems to be accusing me of doing something wrong. At the very least, it groups me with cybersquatters. Even softsquatting isn’t what I’m doing. What I’m doing is “protecting” by registering names to GIVE to the rightful owner if they want them.
For a clearer understanding of exactly what I am doing, go to
http://www.kimmiemeissner.com/cs.html.