What is the future for .net?

[Traveler]

Currently, .net enjoys being the second choice to .com. With all the new extensions that ICANN plans on letting loose, what impact will that have on the .net?

Personally I think .com will continue to be the defacto extension for the web for many years to come and won't be greatly affected by the release of news extensions. But the .net is really a second choice extension that could feel more of an impact with an increase in available alternatives.

The .org in my opinion will weather the increase in extensions much better as it is not just a second choice to the .com. Often, end users seek out the .org because of the "trust" factor or whatever you want to call it associated with the extension.

Any insight you could share on the future of .net would be appreciated!

 

[Alan Glennon]

When people see .com, .net, and .org, they know they are looking at websites. The proliferation of new extensions could actually increase the desirability of .net (and all of the big three). That is, as these new extensions launch, domains will probably have to use the www. prefix as a cue to consumers that the text they are looking at is a webpage (like www.brandablename.tel instead of brandablename.tel). Even though it might be considered second best, when people see .net, they know it's a website.

 

[Traveler]

When people see .com, .net, and .org, they know they are looking at websites. The proliferation of new extensions could actually increase the desirability of .net (and all of the big three).

I can see how the desirability of .com and .org could increase, but I wonder if that will be the case for the .net. The .org has value because of the association with "organizations". The .net has has value because it is a "second choice" to the .com.

In the next few years there will be a great increase in the number of extensions available as alternatives to the .com. I don't see any of them overtaking the .com or having a large negative impact on the value of .com names. But given that .net is just a second choice extension, if some other extension comes along, like .web or something like it. I could image that having an impact on the .net.

The .ws or .cc have tried to become a second choice without success, but with all the new extensions in the next few years, if just one of them does become a decent second choice, I can't imagine that helping the value of the .net.

 

[onewordonly]

Yes that is a good point about people knowing it is a site when they see .net at the end without the www compared to other tld's. I once thought the .net was been caught up but I'm starting to see the main 3 plus .info as always been at the top in the future.