Jimmy Wales goes with .social for fresh social network

Wikipedia founder uses a two-letter .social domain.

Whether you think it’s a good idea or not, the truth is that some people and firms are opting for fresh top level domains rather than .com.

The latest high profile example is Jimmy Wales, creator of Wikipedia. He chose WT.social for his fresh social network called WikiTribune.

The internet is littered with failed social networks, and, to be honest, Wales’ latest creation is a bit half-baked. I got a 500 error when I tried to sign up.

But the idea behind it is cool. It seeks to address a common problem with social networks: they are designed to be addictive and generate all of their revenue from data and ads. That’s why you no longer receive all of your friends’ posts in your Facebook feed; you see the ones that cause the most attention or outrage.

I long for the days that people got their information over RSS rather than what an algorithm decided to show them.

Wales will go with a donation model similar to Wikipedia.

It’s the latest example of someone choosing a non-.com domain. I see it all of the time on my PodcastGuests.com service as well. And while choosing a fresh domain comes with certain challenges, it’s a fact that some are choosing them over legacy domains.

As for WTSocial.com…someone else just registered it.