Google Wants .google, .youtube and .lol Domain Extensions

As you might remember, a couple of years ago ICANN (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announced that it would allow companies to apply to and register whatever domain extension they wanted.

It seems that Google figured this might actually be a good idea, as they are applying to register a bunch of new extensions, including .google, .docs, .youtube, and even Internet’s favorite slang .lol. Here’s a quote from a post on Google’s official blog:

In 2008, ICANN announced a program to expand the number of generic TLDs (think .com, .org, .edu), developed through its bottom-up, multi-stakeholder process, in which we participate. Given this expansion process, we decided to submit applications for new TLDs, which generally fall into four categories:

-Our trademarks, like .google
-Domains related to our core business, like .docs
-Domains that will improve user experience, such as .youtube, which can increase the ease with which YouTube channels and genres can be identified
-Domains we think have interesting and creative potential, such as .lol

I still think allowing those weird domain extensions is a terrible idea. It will only confuse users and create a lot of fragmentation online. Hopefully the whole thing will backfire, making established extensions like .com and .net even more valuable and credible.

That all being said trying to grab Cats.lol shouldn’t be a bad idea when it comes out…

Daniel Scocco