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Registrar Connections
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September 2008
In this issue
Register Now for European Registrar
Day 2008
Come join us October 7, 2008 in Amsterdam for
European Registrar Day. Register
now Fall in Amsterdam is the perfect time of year.
In addition to being the home of Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and classic architecture,
Amsterdam is also a thriving, cosmopolitan center of the 21st century.
The Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam Hotel strategically located in the
heart of Amsterdam's bustling shopping and business center puts you
right in the middle of things.
This year’s 2008 European Registrar Day event
promises to be packed with valuable
information. All ICANN accredited registrars are invited
to attend, with particular emphasis on registrars in the European region.
Take this opportunity to network and experience the exchange of innovative
ideas with VeriSign and your fellow registrars. Sessions
will include exciting new data and information surrounding the products,
services, trends and research that are impacting our industry.
Event attendees should book directly with the Park
Plaza Victoria Amsterdam hotel at +31 20 627 1166 or email
request to ppvares@pphe.com
and ask for the VeriSign special rate. If you have any questions
on the 2008 European Registrar Day, please contact namingmarketing@verisign.com.
We look forward to seeing you in Amsterdam!
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Roundup on North America Registrar
Days
Old Town Alexandria, Virginia was the perfect
backdrop for the recent 2008 North America Registrar Days. Nationally
recognized for its abundance of 18th and 19th century architecture,
and historic attractions, it was the perfect place for registrars to
take in the sights while participating in a historic walking tour that
conveniently ended at the threshold of The Vermillion Restaurant.
“Taking your Business to the Next Level” was
this year’s theme. Twenty three registrar attendees gathered to review
the domain name industry, enhanced online security as well as tap into
social media and the new age of .TV online video. Uncovering new
offerings and ways to maximize business opportunities set the tone.
Survey results showed that 94% of attendees would not only come again,
but would encourage others in their organization to attend and take
full advantage of discussions around new content and the many networking
opportunities. Feedback also indicated that the “State of the
Domain Industry” and an introduction to new and innovative “Marketing
Tools and Programs” were the “most useful” ranked presentations.
We’re looking forward to next year and expect to see you there!
The Meeting Continues at the Break
Dinner at the Vermillion Restaurant
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Domain Report Issued
The VeriSign Domain Name Industry Brief reports
that there were 168 million domain name registrations across all of
the Top Level Domain Names (TLDs) at the midpoint of 2008. This
represents a four percent growth over the first quarter of 2008 and
a 22 percent growth over the same quarter last year. The base
of Country Code Top Level Domain Names (ccTLDs) totaled 65 million domain
names, a four percent increase quarter over quarter and a 27 percent
increase year over year. In terms of total registrations, .com
has the highest base followed by .de (Germany), .cn (China), and .net.
Rounding out the list of the list of largest TLDs, .net and .org had
approximately the same number of registrations with less than 35,000
domain name registrations separating them.
The overall .com and .net domain names adjusted
base increased by three percent quarter over quarter resulting in more
than 87.3 million domain name registrations at the end of the second
quarter. This represented a 20 percent increase year over year.
New .com and .net domain name registrations were added at an average
of 2.5 million per month in the second quarter 2008 for a total of 7.5
million new domain name registrations.
The Domain Name Industry Brief series highlights
key trends in the industry, key performance indicators and growth opportunities.
The September report is available now at www.verisign.com/domainbrief.
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Social Media – How to Join
the Conversation
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion
about social media, its impact on businesses and, above all, how companies
will leverage social networks within their marketing plans. It is a
fact that since CMS (Content Management Systems) started to pop up everywhere
on the Internet it turned the Web into an unarguably democratic media,
allowing people with no programming skills and with only an Internet
connection to become a publisher of their own ideas.
In contrast to the great evolution social media
represented to Web interactivity, it has also presented new issues to
businesses. Now their customers have a public space to openly
express their opinions, both positive and negative, and to share comments
and impressions with others. From this point on, it became (or should
become) mandatory for businesses to listen to what users are saying
about products and services provided.
And what if businesses want to pro-actively
interact with these various communities formed across the Internet?
How is it possible to drive discussions about specific topics and engage
members of social media Web sites to respond?
VeriSign recently conducted its first social
media initiative targeted to end users in Brazil as part of the Advertising
Campaign in 2008. The initiative ran through July and August and the
main objective was to trigger discussions around domain names among
social media members, and to listen to their opinions and viewpoints
about the subject.
The initiative was conducted through a team
of young consultants from a specialized agency who were all members
of social media communities.
VeriSign’s initiative targeted a variety of
social media network users. One audience, focused on blogs, did not
have their own domain name and relied on generic services, such as Wordpress
and Blogspot, to host their content. The promotion awarded bloggers
with a package that included everything necessary to register for a
.com domain name for one year plus a one-year hosting plan. It was interesting
to observe through posts, comments and feedback from the agency that
bloggers considered it very important to have their own domain name,
not only to protect their identity but also for status reasons. It meant
that they had gone a step further to professionalize their blog.
Another part of the initiative focused on stimulating
the conversation about domain names in various communities such as forums,
discussion lists, Orkut communities (extremely popular in Brazil) and
collaborative Web sites. Through comments gathered, it was possible
to identify those members of social media communities that had a working
knowledge of domain names and were able to share important information
about choosing a domain name. Some stated they preferred .com because
it is shorter, provides international visibility and credibility.
Social media is definitely one more element
to think about and include when outlining a marketing campaign. It is
quite different from other media that marketing professionals are used
to managing and thus requires a different approach.
Some tips on how to address social media:
- Do not try to force
a subject or a viewpoint on members of an online community; the idea
is to propose a topic, let the message spread out and collect spontaneous
reaction, through interesting conversations that may result from what
is called “seeding”.
- Social media is
not about a massive audience as it is with some traditional media such
as television or newspapers, but rather about relevance, recommendation,
participation and involvement within a group.
- It is key to provide
relevant information and content to members of communities and to bloggers.
They are extremely eager to discuss interesting and curious topics.
Bear in mind that it should be a continuous
experience in which companies switch back and forth between offering
content and listening and reviewing comments, from leveraging comments
to improve products, services and communication initiatives.
Above all, remember that the nature of social
media is interactivity and collaboration, so do not try to control it.
Join the conversation and capitalize on the exchange of ideas!
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VeriSign to Host Webinar Series
to Maximize Your Renewal Efforts
VeriSign will be hosting an upcoming Webinar series to provide tools
and resources to support your renewal efforts. Look for email
invitations for three upcoming sessions including Three Simple Steps
to Maximize Your Renewal Efforts on October 9; Email Marketing the week
of October 13; and a wrap-up session on Customer Retention Marketing
later in October.
Don’t miss this chance to learn how readily
available data can help you gain an edge in your domain renewal efforts.
VeriSign realizes that you are constantly on the lookout for the most
effective tools and resources to help you increase renewals, but we
know because there is so much data available that it can be challenging.
For this reason we invite you to join us for
an extremely informative session that will:
- Provide a practical
overview of the report information VeriSign provides.
- Map out three simple
steps to effectively apply this information to your ongoing renewal
efforts.
- Walk through actual
sample data for a “virtual” hands-on experience that can be immediately
applied to your own data.
Mark your calendars to participate in the first
VeriSign Webinar and live Q&A session, Thursday, October 9, 2008
at either:
- 9:00 am ET | 6:00
am PT | 1:00 pm GMT
- 2:00 pm ET | 11:00
am PT | 6:00 pm GMT
Stay tuned for registration and call in information!
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Vogue Bets Big on Web Television
Highlights from Forbes magazine feature article, “How to Make Readers
Really Want You”, James Erik Abels, September 17, 2008
The big ideas for keeping Vogue hot are coming
from the business department which is betting big on the appeal of Web
television. Unlike video ads sold against editorially created
Web shows, advertisers work directly with business departments to create
and underwrite branded programs. Branded shows like Model.Live are an
increasingly popular route into the Web TV business.
Faced with declining circulation and stagnant
Web strategies, print products like Vogue and Glamour are becoming online television networks. Last
week, Vogue launched Glamour.TV which joins the existing Vogue.TV.
For the full article, visit: http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/09/17/vogue-tv-models-tech-mediabiz-cx_jea_0917vogue.html?feed=rss_technology
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Calling All Aspiring Webby
Winners: VeriSign Contest Seeking Videos That Show How Online Video
and .tv Are Changing the Web
.tv Webmercial Contest Runs Today Through November 15; Grand Prize
Winner to Receive Sony HDR-TG1 Digital Camcorder
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/10/2008
-- A new contest is calling for Internet video enthusiasts to show their
stuff in a bid to spotlight an emerging corner of the Web that allows
people to create their own TV channel on the Web.
Today through Nov. 15, the .tv Webmercial Contest
is accepting submissions to www.tv.
Ten prizes -- a Sony HDR-TG1 digital camcorder grand prize and Flip
Mino digital camcorders for nine other winners -- are up for grabs.
The contest is sponsored by VeriSign, Inc.
(NASDAQ: VRSN), the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure services
for the networked world. VeriSign administers the rapidly growing .tv
domain, which already is populated with media-rich destinations including fuse.tv,
tnt.tv, we.tv, blip.tv, hollywood.tv
and mlb.tv. Click
here for the full release.
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Special Report from eMarketer
– China Online
Published: September 2008
Executive Summary: China today is synonymous
with tremendous growth and enormous scale. The Internet is certainly
part of this explosion and some might say a primary driver of the country’s
entrée into the very top ranks of industrialized, media-rich societies.
In 2007 China had the world’s second-largest
and fastest growing Internet user population. eMarketer projects that
in 2008 China will have 216 million Internet users, surpassing the US
online population of 193.9 million to become first in the world.
China’s total population of 1.3 billion makes
its numbers significant in any Internet category, even when penetration
is low. For instance, although China will have 216 million Internet
users, that represents less than 20% of the population.
But growth is ahead. Figures for Internet users
and penetration have increased by more than 100% over the past three
years. Broadband penetration is expected to double by 2012.
Spending on e-commerce is expected to increase by about 50% per year
through 2011.
China currently has the largest number of mobile
phone users of any country in the world by far; there will be 595 million
subscribers in 2008, increasing to 800 million in 2012.
Online advertising spending in China, which
was just under $1 billion in 2007, is expected to increase 52% in 2008
to $1.4 billion. From 2009 to 2012 spending is expected to increase
an average of 37% per year and reach $5 billion in 2012.
The Internet is a young person’s medium in
China and generates urgency generally unseen in the West. This stems
from the fact that the country is decidedly undemocratic and the Web,
despite the best efforts of government censors, represents a conduit
to forbidden information.
The government understands that the Internet
is an essential vehicle for continued economic growth, but they also
fear its subversive potential—the inherent challenge it poses to media
control and by extension to overall government control.
To read the full report, please contact Jennifer Moore at 212.763.6046
or send an email to jmoore@emarketer.com.
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In the News
This section contains a selection of articles
pertaining to the Domain Name Industry compiled by Information, Inc.
"Fellows Announced for ICANN's Cairo Meeting"
ICANN.org
(08/19/08) Keenan, Jason
ICANN has announced the successful fellowship
applicants who will appear at its 33rd International Public Meeting
in Cairo between Nov. 2 and Nov. 7. "ICANN's fellowship program
helps make sure we have the widest possible representation from the
developing and least developed world," said ICANN's Theresa Swinehart.
"As a global entity with a global mandate we need to hear from
every corner of the globe, but some countries and Internet users just
didn't have the resources to attend. The fellowship program helps bridge
that gap." For the meeting in Cairo, there are 29 fellows from
25 nations, selected from 89 submitted applications. There are 11 fellowship
alumni, and 11 fellows have never attended an ICANN meeting, while the
other seven have attended previous meetings, although they are first-time
fellows. Priority is granted to applicants who are current citizens
of developing or least-developed countries interested in taking part
in ICANN and its supporting groups, such as the Governmental Advisory
Committee, the Country Code Names Supporting Organization, and the Generic
Names Supporting Organization. The fellowship will help pay for air
fare, accommodations, and a stipend. Recipients will be expected to
take part in and contribute to ICANN events. The Cairo meeting will
also celebrate ICANN'S 10-year anniversary. "Our entire community
will welcome the fellows' participation and their input on key discussions
we will be having around Internationalized Domain Names and new generic
top level domains," Swinehart proclaimed.
http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-19aug08-en.htm
"China Restricts
Internet Addresses with Olympic Champions' Names"
Xinhua
News Agency (08/20/08)
China's General Administration of Sport (GAS)
banned the registration of domain names based on the country's gold
medal-winning athletes. GAS registered all available domain names for
every athlete on the Olympic team in Chinese characters prior to the
start of the Olympics. This was done to prevent third parties from commercializing
the athletes. In 2004, a company was criticized for registering domain
names based on the names of the country's gold medal winners in shooting.
GAS will give the domain names to any gold medal winner for free, so
they can build their own Web site. However, several names were registered
before the GAS issued the order, including at least 10 gold medalists.
GAS has advised the registrants to donate the names as a gift. The protection
of domain names is difficult in China because so many people share the
same spelling of their name. http://www.beijingnews.net/story/396643
"Letter Lottery
Defines Spam Load"
BBC News
(09/01/08)
Obscure email addresses may be less likely to receive spam messages,
says Richard Clayton, a University of Cambridge computer scientist,
who scanned for patterns in more than 500 million junk messages. Clayton
examined email messages sent over a two-month period and found that
more than 40 percent of all emails sent to addresses beginning with
a, m, s, r, and p were spam. By contrast, emails beginning with q, z,
and y had a spam quotient of 20 percent or less. Clayton also found
that more than 50 percent of the messages sent to emails beginning with
u were junk. One way to explain these results is a recurring pattern
of dictionary-style attacks. In this attack, a spammer would take an
email address such as john@example.com and use the same name but change
the domain to john@another.com. There are likely to be fewer email addresses
beginning with q, z, and y, thus these addresses receive fewer junk
messages, Clayton says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7591370.stm
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