[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #388: Numeric domain names

[Editor]

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/>
OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #388: Numeric domain names
June 4th, 2014

numeric keypadYou're probably not in the market for a new domain name 
for your library, and almost certainly haven't considered a domain name 
that's the same as the library's telephone number - http://7285252.org, 
for example. But such a numeric domain name might be exactly what you 
would want if you were running a library in China. In the Western world, 
domain names are precisely that - names - and a numeric domain name 
would have less meaning than a domain name composed of words. In China, 
however, the opposite is true. And since short numeric domain names of 
six digits or less are preferred, and there are a limited number of such 
numeric combinations, many numeric domain names actually have a very 
high market value.

  * Understanding numeric domain value in Chinese culture
    <http://www.mediaoptions.com/domain-names/understanding-numeric-domain-value-in-chinese-culture.html>
    (Media Options/Tess Diaz) "The Chinese are a people of many
    languages, but no alphabet. Chinese businesses have historically
    used numbers or pinyin versions of Chinese characters to brand their
    websites. There are tens of thousands of Chinese characters, with
    every single word having its own associated visual character. In
    addition, there are numerous Chinese languages and strong numeric
    symbolism from Confucianism, Taoism, folk belief, and recent
    internet slang. This leaves numbers as the greatest commonly
    understood 'language.'"
  * The secret messages inside Chinese URLs
    <http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117608/chinese-number-websites-secret-meaning-urls>
    (New Republic/Christopher Beam) "This kind of number-language has
    become an infinitely malleable shorthand among Chinese web users: 1
    means 'want,' 2 means 'love,' 4 means 'dead' or 'world' or 'is,' 5
    means 'I,' 7 means 'wife' or 'eat,' 8 means 'get rich' or 'not,' and
    9 means 'long time' or 'alcohol.' The numbers 5201314, for example,
    mean ???????, or 'I will love you forever'; 0748 means 'go die'; and
    687 means 'I'm sorry.'"
  * Numeric domains, Chinese culture and how you can profit from it
    <http://www.domainholdings.com/numeric-domains-chinese-culture-and-how-you-can-profit-with-domains/>
    (Domain Holdings blog/Giuseppe Graziano) "Numeric domains are sought
    after mostly by Chinese buyers - we can safely say that 80% of the
    players in this market come from China. The reason for this is
    because Chinese businesses have historically used numbers or pinyin
    versions of Chinese characters to brand their websites. English
    keyword domains are difficult to remember for native Chinese
    speakers, therefore most of the popular websites in China use
    numbers (eg 163.com) or pinyin (Baidu.com, Youku.com etc.). Add to
    this the limited supply of only 100 NN.com and 1000 NNN.com, then
    you can quickly understand the rising value."
  * Are numeric domains a good idea?
    <http://blog.vastusdomains.com/2014/numeric-domains-good-idea>
    (Vastus Domains blog/Mark Sittler) "In Asia and especially certain
    Asian countries like China, numeric domain names are huge. In such
    cultures, numbers in general come attached to great meaning.
    Specific combinations of numbers have even more meaning and the
    right combinations could be worth some serious money. In case you're
    wondering just how serious the money attached to some of these
    domains can be, just consider the fact that 888888.com wound up
    selling for $245,000."

*/More value facts:/*

DN Journal's 2014 year-to-date sales chart 
<http://www.dnjournal.com/ytd-sales-charts.htm> for domain names 
includes 100.com selling for $950,000 and 37.com selling for just under 
$2 million.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The */OPLIN 4cast/* is a weekly compilation of recent headlines, topics, 
and trends that could impact public libraries. You can subscribe to it 
in a variety of ways, such as:

  * *RSS feed.* You can receive the OPLIN 4cast via RSS feed by
    subscribing to the following URL:
    http://www.oplin.org/4cast/index.php/?feed=rss2.
  * *Live Bookmark.* If you're using the Firefox web browser, you can go
    to the 4cast website (http://www.oplin.org/4cast/) and click on the
    orange "radio wave" icon on the right side of the address bar. In
    Internet Explorer 7, click on the same icon to view or subscribe to
    the 4cast RSS feed.
  * *E-mail.* You can have the OPLIN 4cast delivered via e-mail (a'la
    OPLINlist and OPLINtech) by subscribing to the 4cast mailing list at
    http://mail.oplin.org/mailman/listinfo/OPLIN4cast.


OPLIN 4Cast
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20140604/e4e9d88f/attachment-0003.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: kubrickheader.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 38379 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20140604/e4e9d88f/attachment-0003.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: numeric-keypad.png
Type: image/png
Size: 11140 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.oplin.org/pipermail/oplin4cast/attachments/20140604/e4e9d88f/attachment-0003.png>