Morning Folks!!
It wasn’t until Howard did “Man on The Street” in Fort Lauderdale that I realized just how Facebook was so important to the masses. The folks not on the Internet 24/7. I had thought it was Twitter that was surging, when in fact almost 100% said Facebook and Twitter was never even mentioned.
Follow the masses. Always follow the masses. The masses have one thing on their mind and merchants have another thing going. So we get to see another advertising blunder? Businesses looking to be cool. Businesses looking for more business. Businesses trying once again to make sales and do it without Google.
I usually understand things very well. But not this. This is an EXPLOSION IN PROGRESS! You can take that BOTH ways. They are both true and accurate. It is in progress and we are watching progress. That’s no spark, that is an explosion.
When such an explosion occurs, it will be some time before things shake out. For folks to get their heads around it and use that info. Companies may want to be cautious. Inflicting your business in a social atmosphere and doing it in a wrong way can backfire. Could collapse a business as well as grow it.
So socialization may be a serpent we still have to tame and adjust to. To understand. To use.
One thing I don’t understand at all is the negative link between facebook or twitter and domain names. The link is not there. It is invented. Once you find a new sales channel, if you do, then you don’t close up your old channels. It’s just another “Tributary” into the river of your business that resides on a DOMAIN NAME.
Your address is your address. Your name is your name. Your location is your location. Facebook is not a domain killer. It is quite the opposite. 1000% percent the opposite. Facebook will drive MILLIONS to create their own websites and own ideas. That all starts with a domain name. Unless they just want to be in Facebook with no real presence anywhere else. But why would anyone do that? We are looking to increase audiences not make them smaller.
And while it surprises me that domainers would think this, it should not. Why? Because I have seen this nonsense play out so many times it is comical at this point. I can go through history, business history, social history and every time something is pronounced this or that, they are wrong. EVERY time.
Radio is dead. TV can’t exist with 500 channels. The Internet will kill TV. Home theaters will put movie theaters out of business. Satellite will destroy cable. Electric will make FIRE unnecessary. Fill in your own. I could sit here ALL day and just rifle those babies off.
And if you still believe Facebook is ANY threat to domains whatsoever........
Here is our FaceBook page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=124519310931075&ref=nf
Here is the Linkin Page that Paul Goldstone made for TRAFFIC
http://events.linkedin.com/TRAFFIC-Miami-2010/pub/440949
Here is my Twitter Link
http://twitter.com/domainking
All roads lead to Rome. Domain Rome!
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
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anon
facebook is one of the best examples of a well executed generic domain name.
Elliot
I agree that Facebook isn’t a domain killer whatsoever, but just to play devil’s advocate for a second, I have to draw a comparison to those multi player games where people create their own worlds online. Do you see parallels between those types of role playing games and Facebook? Do those people ever leave their fantasy world to create their own website, or do they stay in fantasy game mode and only build there?
Leonard Britt
I see Facebook as AOL in the mid to late 90s. It is the entry point for many young adults or older adults who are less internet savy into the usage of computers and the internet. It is a beginning point which in many cases will seed a desire for one’s own website. My wife uses Facebook extensively so when I saw her name available in .TV, I grabbed it and now Lorena.tv is live (at this point just photos & a few videos).
Rick Schwartz
Leonard, that is a great way to describe it.
I am a product of the AOL mid 90’s generation. So I can surely see that side of Facebook.
I call them the training wheels of the Internet.
martinchidi
yahoo was once the talk of town, suddenly google appear stronger today we are talking of twitter and facebook one thing is certain all idea are placed on domain names yahoo.com,facebook.com,twitter.com and am working on africamarket.co, domain is the in thing. Strong brands online are built on domain names not on some one else page that controls and adjust terms and conditions with ease.
todaro
it is the best of times… it is the worst of times.
Domain report
Facebook is great but you are using somebody else’s domain, it isn’t truly yours. To really have your own web presence that no one can take away or control over you, you have to have your own domain and website.
Kevin
Nothing is forever, especially on the Net. Microsoft’s Explorer browser just went under 50% market share for the first time. Where is MySpace today? People get bored easily. Technology innovations keep competition beyond vibrant.
Once Google launches it’s social platform on Google Me there’ll be a huge migration of Facebook users to that. What does FB really provide? All I use it for is reading the wall and that’s really no different then an RSS aggregation process. I’ve got about 500 friends on my FB network, but it’s impossible time wise to keep them all visible. Some people post all day long. Who has time to read all that x 500?
Twitter is another crazy place with ridiculous assumptions. 50 Million tweets per day. Does anyone really believe even a few %’s of that is really being read? Most people are just talking to themselves on there. If you follow hundreds of twitterers like on FB there’s not enough time in the day to keep up with it.
Plust Twitter and FB are both using the”free” business model. So all they have is a huge user base of people that can jump ship in a moment when the next”in” thing comes along. Just like what happened to MySpace went that began to sink in popularity.
If it’s not Google Me that knocks FB down, there will surely be another cool place in the future that will. It’s just a matter of time.
Steve Smith
Great post Rick & much agreed that FB, Twitter & YouTube absolutely add value & leverage for a multi-channel strategy for domain development. This article from today’s Bloomberg sums reveals the power of social media: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-29/dogfish-head-craft-brewery-taps-into-facebook-twitter.html
All the best,
Steve Smith
P.S. Smart move for you to use FB fanpage, Twitter, YouTube & LinkedIN for TRAFFIC
Abe
@ Rick – “Unless they just want to be in Facebook with no real presence anywhere else. But why would anyone do that?”
You couldn’t have been more correct. The thing is that many of these people just want to be on FB. In addition, FB does everything possible to keep them there by offering and hoping to offer them everything they might ever need.
Will at last?? Will it back fire?? Is this an evolution or a fad? Probably both but at some stage the ball game can/will change entirely.
“Empires come and empires go but domains stay forever”(??)
BullShitwebsites
Can’t wait face-shit starts shutting down some of the accounts for illegal activities like porns….
or facebook.com is down due to technical error.
Then people will realize not to put all in one basket.
Abe
@ Rick – “Unless they just want to be in Facebook with no real presence anywhere else. But why would anyone do that?”
You couldn’t have been more correct. The thing is that many of these people just want to be on FB. In addition, FB does everything possible to keep them there by offering and hoping to offer them everything they might ever need.
Will at last?? Will it back fire?? Is this an evolution or a fad? Probably both but at some stage the ball game can/will change entirely.
“Empires come and empires go but domains stay forever”(??)
Steve
Or you put all of this work into your facebook page and they start to charge for your account or as mentioned the terms change or a new owner makes prohibitive costly changes to member accounts, etc. etc. etc…
Own your”moniker”, don’t borrow it.
Best!
Don
It’s great now, but just wait until they start adding follow me services, geo trackers. That will not be good. Mobile phones have these. Throw in an RFID tag on your drivers license or credit card on top of that. Oh shi* You have social network added with a geo tracker an RFID tag. Your a walking billboard that is invisible.
Then you have the potential employers start doing background checks on you. They will know everything about you.
What about divorce attorneys looking you up.
I mean why don’t people just set up a camera inside their room then everyone can watch every move they make.
This will not affect domain names that is for sure. So really I don’t care what happens to any of these social networks.
Attorneys will love this it gives them access to a persons profile and all their friends.
Employers are also jumping up and down. They will know what you smoke, who you dated and where you live, and what your health is like.
Something will come out in the future that is less intrusive in my opinion.
The consumers public and private life needs to be keep private, if they want the world to know I guess that is up to them. The company that addresses the consumers privacy concerns will win.
Donny
Jared Nyaberi
Here we have 500 million potential domain buyers who are still asleep. Oblivious of the power of owning their own domain. What are we as domainers doing to reach them? Real estate agents advertise on tv, billboards, radio and print media and actively seek buyers. So do lawyers, doctors, dentists, plumbers and so forth. Are we domainers reaching out to this 500 million-person gold mine?
Jared Nyaberi
Domainsareonsale.com
Dan
Hi,
Nice Post Rick…
Just saw the movie” Social Network”…any domainer will enjoy it I think…
“Trout” get a bad rap…but otherwise it was worth seeing at a movie theater.
I have only seen 4 movies in the last 8+ years at a movie theater.
“Secretariat” will be my 5th, only because I work at the”Race Tracks” in CA. for 14 years.
___
Best,
Dan
ppi
yes, agree on all that Rick. i just laugh when i have seen noobs touting this stuff, usually on namepros or some other dump
or occasionally on a blog to get sensationalist headlines. bit like this one lol
the line that made me laugh out loud was:
“I could sit here ALL day and just rifle those babies off.”
you’ve been stealing my lines again Rickmeister
cheers
Aggro
Makes me laugh at some domainers’ logic..
95% of the world’s internet users have a Hotmail, gmail, yahoo web email.
Yet how many of them have email on their own domain…
Taking the domain example, fact is 90% users don’t want to dick around managing nameservers etc.
Too geeky, nerdy…and complicated.
And you guys don’t get it.
Whether Facebook, Myspace will be around in 10 yrs…1 thing is for sure there WILL be a”social” site where millions of people can still congregate.
Only thing is it might not be called Facebook. It will be called something else.
It’s what the internet is all about & does best..users congregating together in 1 place. Ain’t gonna happen with 1 disparate user on his 1 lousy domain, unless he’s a celeb. (how’s the me.TV thing doing, LOL)
Citing the AOL, Geocities, no longer as popular, of yesteryear is a red herring
Others have replaced it. But still using the same principles & ideas..
It’s evolution.
Ron
How about the”social network” that takes place right now on Frank Schilling’s domains…Any commetnts on that?
Web Domains Buy
Social networking is not a bad place to get more costumers. You can do a search and find the people that you are looking for. Their is a lot of competition on Google and back links are hard to get.
If anybody has not seen the movie Social Network you should go see it, its awesome!
Aggro your right some people still have a hard time sending and email. AT@T just changed the link from compose to email massage! oh-no!
chris
I see what your saying and great references.
domains will never die as its common knowledge that facebook is very insecure so the damage is done and twitter/facebook are both full of spammers.
100mil facebook users is currently available for download (10gb) want a copy?…also worked on an RFID project required for all commercial livestock in aust…its here already
But we do use social network marketing companies to spread the love for clients and they do produce results but am not an addict like others seeing that if i want to speak to a friend i will just call him/her seeing that’s what friends do.
sheep are sheep and follow each other but the path always changes every 2-5 years or so in many cases…fashion, style, wants and needs……trade-in girlfriend.
with the right marketing in various areas you can lure the sheep with carrots seeing its easier to take $1 of 1million people than get it from one person so you can do well and this can be applied to domaining.
I picked up domainingbooks.com today so i will use facebook to drive people to it and ‘pimp them bitches’
with web enabled tv’s and webtv in many homes now i feel nice brandable domains are going to be king and really nice .com’s will go through the roof like never before also cctlds will come into play due to heavy new user growth……..or we will be speaking total bable ‘cuz’ of these fucking retarded names spewed up by shiny suited marketers or illiterates that cant even write on paper.
The sheep sitting on the couch will be online searching for more and spending credit whilst putting on weight and the numbers of people online will grow by 5x-10x due to growth in india & china with many more people learning english and falling for clever marketing wanting to also be sheep.
im a bit younger than you guys but domain names will explode bigtime and parking will change forever as better shops will be integrated into parked pages via amazon / ebay etc.
its unfortunate that the world is turning into another bad tom cruise movie but its happening.
DNB2B.com
Facebook is just a domain name with an excellent business idea to herd a flock that can be paraded to other businesses (on other domain names) for advertisement income ;)
Don’t we all want to do that?
Facebook is a business idea. Domain names are meaningful labels to cryptic-looking numeric addresses for the computers (and their tenants) web-linked on the Internet. There is no comparison or competition!
roberto giovanni
Rick,
I’m did you see the FaceMash.com auction on Flippa? I think bidding is up at $19,000 with a BIN $125K where do you think that will go?
Eddie Rohwedder
I absolutely agree that Facebook is not a domain killer – quite the opposite.
But I have to say that…
1. Radio is almost dead – stations are dropping left and right. Those hanging around are lucky to break even.
2. TV Can’t exist with 500 channels – There’s not enough ad revenue. The top 100 channels make money but after that they’re all operating at a loss. It’s a bubble that will eventually burst. The cost of creating original content or licensing shows is just too expensive if you don’t have any real advertisers.
3. The internet has absolutely killed television as we know it. Syndicated television is going off the air – Oprah is leaving because the stations can’t afford to pay for her show. Hundreds of studies show that kids spend more time online than in front of the television.
4. Satellites will destroy cable – It’s close, most cable providers are loosing money. Direct TV is currently adding more subscribers than cable every month so it’s only a matter of time. Also, Direct TV has a monopoly on the NFL – find a bar in America that doesn’t have Direct TV.
Having said all that, I really appreciate your posts. I’ve learned so much and you’ve helped me steer clear of the”Pigeon Shit”.
Thanks!
ScottM
I’ve not heard yet that DirecTV has ever made a profit. Maybe that’s changed?? I believe the DirecTV – NFL monopoly is going to end eventually, maybe even before their contract ends and plenty of politicians are going to make it happen. Their needs to be a pay-per-view program per each game with the cable companies. The $250+ NFL Sunday Ticket package is an all or nothing price gouge of the fans. If I want to watch an out-of-market game I would gladly pay $4.95 to watch that game on cable pay per view, or I could easily watch it online at one of the many Internet TV streaming sites for free.
Dawn Lambros
Excellent article, Rick. You’re right on the money with this one.
Altaf
Excellent topics Rick, it’s timely & so many excellent comments came in from olders & experienced and from young
& visionaries. My questions while Mark could foresee what the masses would need & focused on connection to share the information you guys with much of experiences started earlier than forgot to create that level playing field. When you did start your original Traffic Board no one even knew about value of domains . I guess it would have been worth millions subscribers today if continued with a modification as what masses need than stopping it sine die. We learned a lot there were very used to visit many times a day bringing more folks with mouth to mouth ads. We saw hundreds experts or growing youngsters. Today you could challenge FB.
By the by what revenue sources FB generate income with 500 ml users?
Will the blog with free theme explode? Or guess what comes next….?
Have a great day!!
Biggie.us
Hi Rick
at first I thought you were contradicting yourself, as i only read the title of this post”The Socialization of Business and the End of Domain Names” in reference to this :Domain Lottery. Are you in the Game? 2 Cents a day to be a Player.”
as i thought you were predicting the end of domains
but in a way, i kinda disagree about fb users wanting to get their own domains.
because we are domainers, we think differently than average net user. it’s hard enough to get the general public to understand domains so how do you think they will automatically think to get their own domain, instead of being satisfied with just a fb page or a linkedn page or a secondlife page or a myspace or foursquare, etc….if in the future they can all be linked?