The .so Domain Extension

In this post we talk the popularity of the .so domain extension among startup community

I am a fan of?startup?discovery platforms and networks such as Product Hunt, Beta List, Indie Hackers, Startup Stash and other sites like these. As I frequent these sites a few things have become noticeable to me.

1. The seemingly increasing number of startups and/or products that are being launched utilizing ccTLDs and new?TLDs, such as .fun .page .email, etc. as well as the usage of the?.io?and?.co?extensions (which is not nearly as surprising). The .io and .co domain extensions continue to rise in popularity and have been a legitimate alternative for those who cannot get the .com, net or .org version of their desired brand name. For some, the .io and/or the .co are preferred over the .net and .org.

And

1. The number of developers/tech companies that have seemed to take a liking to the .so ccTLD. I do not have any hardcore statistics to back up this assertion I am making, just going based on what I am seeing on these platforms. I have noticed more recently than ever before that startups are being launched on this extension and it seems to be (not surprisingly) happening more so with the tech crowd.

What is the .so domain

.so?is the internet ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) for the country of Somalia which is on the northeastern coast of Africa. For a period of time the domain extension was not operational due to the civil war in Somalia but was restored on?11/01/2010.

Why the sudden interest in .so from the tech/startup crowd

So, there are a number of different reasons why a particular ccTLD can have a sudden?rise in popularity?and have widespread use.

TLD is an actual word or has ulterior meaning:?Some ccTLD's are actual words that are very popular in other languages/countries or can have a significant meaning with in a specific industry or group of people. As a result, some extensions can and provide an identity, descriptor or be a representation of who you are, what you do or the industry you are in. For example .co is the country code for Columbia but it is also the abbreviation for company or corporation. The .io extension is the ccTLD for the British Indian Ocean Territory but it is also significant to the tech industry and many with in the industry like the .io because it stands for input/output and IO is commonly used and/or prevalent in computer science. The same goes for other country codes such as .me, .tv, .la, .ai and others.

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