Those of us that are trying to have an influential impact in the digital world know that we must brand ourselves. Where do we begin? The answer is with our domain name. Something memorable, something unique, something that describes ourselves or the content we are presenting.

Our community is already having a great impact on a number of traditional social platforms such as Twitter™, Facebook™, YouTube™, TikTok™, etc. I salute everyone's efforts working together to market this one of a kind blockchain of ours.

This short post will discuss Top-Level Domains briefly and provide an opportunity to invest in the HIVE Brand through ownership of Domain Names.

TOP-LEVEL DOMAINS (TLDs)

After doing a bit of research, I found out that the following domain name extensions are the most popular or may be described as Top-Level Domain (TLD) extensions.

💻 .com

Short for commercial   as well as being the Grand-daddy of TLD extensions, first premiering in 1985. It was first used to identify for-profit organizations but is now used for generic purposes. It is the most recognizable of the extensions and lends a sense of legitimacy to a website. One of the first websites to use this extension was ACME.COM which is still up and running!

Some Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts believe that the .com extension does much better than other TLDs in search engine rankings.

💻 .net

A shortening of network   it is another generic TLD extension formerly used to identify websites involved in network technologies.

💻 .org

A shortening of organization, .org was originally used for non-profits or sites of non-commercial aspect. It is now also a generic TLD.

💻 .co

Oddly enough, .co was originally assigned as the Web country code for Columbia. The .co has since become a generic TLD alternative to .com

💻 .us

Unlike the preceding TLDs above, the use of the .us extension comes with restrictions on who can use it. As it is the official country code for the United States, a site with this extension can only be used by citizens of the United States or a foreign organization/company that has a presence in the United States.

WHY HIVE.BLOG AND NOT HIVE.COM?

The short answer is that the domain name HIVE.COM was already registered on the Domain Name System (DNS) by HIVE Blockchain Technologies Ltd., a blockchain mining company located in Canada.

Upon the forking from STEEM and branding ourselves as HIVE, there was an hiccup of a legal nature. I will not go into it here, but if you are interested, you may wish to read the article Steem Fork Faces Legal Threat From Mining Firm Over ‘Hive’ Name — coindesk.

Just another instance where a person needs to be careful when branding themselves. They may find themselves surrounded by a bevy of lawyers representing litigious corporations! Good thing that HIVE is a protocol and not a company.

CHALLENGE: I HAVE REGISTERED SOME TLDs AND AM NOT DOING ANYTHING WITH THEM, WILL YOU?

Some months back I purchased a number of domain names from GODADDY.COM™. I want to say right away I am not selling them, but would not be adverse to a donation of some HIVE, but it would be a donation to my HIVE account and not a business transaction. I have already donated two domain names, HIVEBETS.COM and HIVEFAUCET.COM to another HIVE member and his community so I am familiar with the process of transferring ownership of these domains.

Here is a list of the domains:

DOMAIN NAMES

🐝 HIVEPEOPLE.COM

🐝 THEHIVEPEOPLE.COM

🐝 HIVE-PEOPLE.COM

🐝 THEHIVEPEOPLE.ORG

🐝 HIVEPEOPLE.US (only for use of citizens of the USA due to DNS restrictions)

🐝 HIVEFOLK.LIVE

🐝 HIVEFOLKS.LIVE

🐝 HIVEPEOPLE.LIVE

🐝 THEHIVEPEOPLE.INFO

Should you have an interest in one of the above domain names or have questions regarding them, please leave a comment. Should you wish to contact me via Discord my handle is @sgt-dan#0001. I am also available for technical questions as well.

As always,

Blessings and Groovy Vibes!