Probably the most familiar .ORG domain on the web today is wikipedia.org. This gTLD was created in 1984 as one of the Internet’s original top-level domains, and has wide-ranging use including open source projects (drupal.org), sports groups (www.specialolympics.org), advocacy (www.kiva.org) and causes (www.cbcf.org). As the third largest gTLD, it is used worldwide, connecting smaller pockets of communities and giving them collective global reach. Public Interest Registry (PIR), the .ORG registry operator since 2003, has embraced social media to support organizations in a wide variety of ways including their YouTube Channel and World Voices events program. Your customers will find all types of videos highlighting the various uses of .ORG. Check out the video below.

.ORG Quick Facts

• There are more than 7 million .ORG domains around the world.
• It is the third largest gTLD behind .COM and .NET.
• PIR (Public Interest Registry) is the registry operator.
• Anyone can buy this gTLD.
• They were the official sponsor for the 13th Annual Webby Awards.
• PIR is actively promoting implementation of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) for their TLD and signed their zone on June 2, 2009.

The Many Uses of .ORG

Available Resources:
Registries offer a wide range of resources for Resellers. Here are some of the key links you can use to learn more about .ORG:

• .ORG blog
• .ORG Knowledge Center
• Directory of Resources
• Email newsletters
• YouTube channel
• .ORG Facebook Group
• Orgbuzz on Twitter
• Orgbuzz on Flickr

.ORG Promotion:
Our .ORG promotion started on June 1st and continues until July 31, 2009. There’s more information on the promotion page.

This week Nominet, the .UK domain name registry, announced they’d passed the seven million mark with the registration of the name tootsdrivingschool.co.uk. From the Nominet news release, “this registration marks significant growth in the registry – an extra one million domain names since July 2007.”

Earlier this week, The Public Interest Registry, the registry behind the global .ORG domain name, announced that more than 7 million domain names are now registered as .ORG. This makes it the third largest generic domain (after .com and .net).

Both registries hit 7 million in the same week and both registries are undertaking marketing activities to drive more registrations. On the .ORG side, they are hoping to extend their traditional non-profit base to attract new registrants to .ORG. Specifically, they are addressing a growing audience of community sites, sites for colloborative content, online political organizing, the “green” movement and empowered citizens looking to further passions or causes. Nominet is executing a .UK renewal awareness campaign “to raise renewal rates by encouraging registrants to think about the value of their domain name and to use their registrar for all aspects of domain maintenance and renewal.” You can take a look at their campaign site at http://www.keepyour.co.uk.

Both .ORG and .UK are available as part of the OpenSRS Domains Service.

photo: Seven uploaded by Kevin