<a href="http://www.ausregistry.com/blog/?p=575">http://www.ausregistry.com/blog/?p=575</a><br clear="all"><br><h1 class="sIFR-replaced"><span id="sIFR_callback_0_alternate" class="sIFR-alternate">URL shorteners, domain hacks and quasi-gTLDs: what are ccTLDs really about?</span></h1>
<small>Published on October 15th, 2010 </small>
<div class="entry">
<div id="profilepic_profile"><img src="http://www.ausregistry.com/blog/wp-content/plugins/profile-pic/2.jpg" id="authorpic" align="right" height="99" width="66"></div>
<p><strong>By Jon Lawrence</strong></p>
<p>The Twitterverse is awash with catchy URL shortening services, which
allow what would otherwise be long URLs to fit within the strict
character limit of individual Tweets. Before the Twitter phenomenon
really took hold, <a title="tinyurl.com" href="http://tinyurl.com/" target="_blank">tinyurl.com</a>
was one of the more popular services; now much shorter options are
available, using various ccTLDs which have the significant advantage of
being only two characters after the dot.</p>
<p>Some of the more high-profile recent examples include Twitter’s <a title="t.co" href="http://t.co/" target="_blank">t.co</a>, Google’s <a title="goo.gl" href="http://goo.gl/" target="_blank">goo.gl</a>, Facebook’s <a href="http://fb.me/">fb.me</a> and US National Public Radio’s <a title="n.pr" href="http://n.pr/" target="_blank">n.pr</a>.
For the ccTLDs concerned, these domain names represent invaluable
exposure to a global audience and are probably one of the single most
effective marketing initiatives they will undertake.</p>
<p>Similarly, the popularity of domain hacks, one form of which involves
ignoring the dot to spell out a brand or word – examples include <a title="del.icio.us" href="http://del.icio.us/" target="_blank">del.icio.us</a> and <a title="blo.gs" href="http://blo.gs/" target="_blank">blo.gs</a> – offer another opportunity for showcasing a ccTLD to a potentially global audience.</p>
<p>The promotional opportunity is particularly attractive for smaller ccTLDs. <a title="www.nic.gl" href="http://www.nic.gl/" target="_blank">Greenland’s .gl</a> and <a title="www.nic.gs" href="http://nic.gs/" target="_blank">South Georgia & the South Sandwich Islands’ .gs</a>
are not ccTLDs that receive much, if any, attention from outsiders,
except perhaps from the most diligent Trademark attorneys at some of the
world’s largest corporations.</p>
<p>Chasing the promotional benefits of URL-shortening services and
domain hacks is not without its risks however, as Libya has recently
discovered. The <a title="bit.ly" href="http://bit.ly/" target="_blank">bit.ly</a>
URL service is one of the most popular in use within the Twitterverse,
and has given Libya’s .ly ccTLD a significant global profile. Other URL
shortening services have followed <a href="http://bit.ly">bit.ly</a>’s lead, including <a href="http://vb.ly">vb.ly</a>, which
was pitched with the following tag line:</p>
<p><em>The Internet’s first and only sex-positive link shortener
service, meaning links are not filtered or groomed, and we’ll never pull
your links because we decided to become “family friendly” .<br>
</em></p>
<p>It was rather naive to expect that a socially conservative country
such as Libya would not have an issue with a website that portrays
itself in these terms, and it was therefore unsurprising that <a href="http://nic.ly/">NIC.LY</a>
last month revoked the <a href="http://vb.ly">vb.ly</a> domain name, citing concerns that the
service was not in keeping with Sharia Law. They have also revised the
registration policy for .ly to restrict registrations of less than four
characters to locally-registered entities, thereby effectively
preventing any new URL shortening services from using the .ly ccTLD.</p>
<p>It is of course <a href="http://NIC.LY">NIC.LY</a>’s right to manage their ccTLD in a way that
suits the specific legal and cultural realities of contemporary Libyan
society, as it is for all other ccTLD Managers. Those that wish to take
advantage of the combination of short domain names at relatively low
cost for use with URL shorteners should therefore consider carefully
which ccTLD they choose to utilise for this purpose.</p>
<p>There are of course many countries that have chosen to leverage their
luck in the ccTLD lottery by re-purposing their ccTLD as quasi-gTLDs
and offering them on an unrestricted basis to the global market. These
include <a title="www.nic.tv" href="http://www.verisign.tv/" target="_blank">Tuvalu’s .tv</a>, <a title="nic.as" href="http://nic.as/" target="_blank">American Samoa’s .as</a> (AS is an abbreviation of a common company type in some European countries), <a title="nic.nu" href="http://nic.nu/" target="_blank">Niue’s .nu</a> (Nu means ‘now’ in Dutch, Danish and Swedish), and more recently, <a title="domen.me" href="http://domen.me/" target="_blank">Montenegro’s .me</a> and <a title="cointernet.co" href="http://www.cointernet.co/" target="_blank">Colombia’s .co</a>.</p>
<p>The attractions of such a move are obvious for countries with a
memorable ccTLD, a very small population and few other sources of
income, as the re-purposing of their ccTLD represents an opportunity to
earn valuable export income.</p>
<p>The number of ccTLDs that are in a position to follow suit is however
very limited, particularly with the spectre of hundreds of new gTLDs on
the horizon.</p>
<p>Somalia is about to launch their .so ccTLD to the global market, and
while I expect that it will be moderately successful, it is unlikely to
achieve the hundreds of thousands of registrations seen in some other
re-purposed ccTLDs, at least for the foreseeable future. The publicity
generated by the Libyan registry’s recent crackdown is also likely to
give many potential registrants pause for thought about the longer-term
prospects for a ccTLD governed by a country that suffers from endemic
political instability.</p>
<p>Even one of the most successful re-purposed ccTLDs, Tuvalu’s .tv –
operated by Verisign since 2000 under a long-term arrangement with the
Tuvalu Government – is failing to live up to some expectations within
Tuvalu, despite accounting for close to 10% of the Government’s total
revenue (see the Australia Network’s article: <a title="Threat to Tuvalu's proud domain" href="http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201007/2947611.htm" target="_blank">Threat to Tuvalu’s proud domain</a>).</p>
<p>Governments and national regulators that are considering the future
of their ccTLDs should therefore be careful to avoid being dazzled by
the windfall revenue gains that going after the global market may appear
to offer. It is highly unlikely that we will again see a ccTLD achieve
the success of the recent launch of second-level registrations under
.co, which has reached over half a million names in a few short months.
For the vast majority of ccTLDs, focusing on the needs of their local
market will instead be the most appropriate course of action,
particularly over the longer term.</p>
<p>The benefits to be gained from the development of local ccTLD
infrastructure, and the skills and expertise required to operate it,
will be significant in capacity-building terms and should form the basis
for nurturing a sustainable local internet industry. A dynamic local
internet industry will help to bridge the digital divide and promote the
myriad of social and economic opportunities that the internet has to
offer.</p>
<p>Similarly, implementing policies developed in conjunction with local
stakeholders and appropriate to the local legal, cultural and economic
situation, along with effective awareness campaigns and marketing
activities should help to ensure that the local ccTLD becomes the TLD of
choice for local businesses and organisations.</p>
<p>ICANN’s new gTLD program however has the potential to overwhelm many
ccTLDs that are yet to establish themselves as the TLD of choice in
their local market, with hundreds of new TLDs expected to be introduced,
likely from around early 2012.</p>
<p>The already highly competitive global market is therefore about to
become even more so. Those considering the future of their ccTLD should
be mindful of this in their planning activities and should ensure they
focus on sustainable, local outcomes.</p></div><br>