When you visited any website today, it's a sure thing you didn't type an IP address like this 173.194.113.18 into your web browser. This string of numbers separated by periods—an IP address—isn’t nearly as easy or memorable as typing www.google.com. Domain names ending in things like .COM, .NET and .EDU make browsing the web and telling people where to find you online easier.
This month, we join the world in celebrating the 30th anniversary of .COM and several other domain endings.
Though they were introduced in 1985, domain names didn’t gain much awareness and use amongst the public until the World Wide Web became available to all during the ‘90s and it became clear they were an important part in unlocking its power. Using these online addresses, people began to spread messages, start businesses and access information that otherwise would have been nearly impossible to find. Popularity and demand for these names grew so much that people were soon willing to pay millions of dollars for the perfect one.
Today there are 270+ million registered domain names; in fact, about 17 million were added just last year. To create more naming options for people online, hundreds of new top-level domains are being added, and many, like .TODAY, .NINJA and .BIKE are already available.
Here’s to .COM’s 30th anniversary, and all that’s yet to come in how we name destinations on the Internet.
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