A new browser have been getting a lot of buzz in the last couple of weeks and it hasn’t even launched yet.
RockMelt.com, is a browser which incorporates a lot of social networking capability and including your Facebook friends, their tweets and such sites like Yelp.com.
If you watch the 2 minute video posted on their site you will see the browser acts more like a portal and may lead to less traditional searches.
Because of the design of the browser and the incorporation of all sorts of social networking and interaction, it would appear that Domain names are not centric, to the browser which has built in search engine features.
Search input seems to be more application and social networking based and therefore seems that it would generate a much lower amount of searches because the user has plenty of shortcuts and quick links to all sorts of information
If you watch the demo you will notice that the guy never entered any site url to make a bunch of actions.
If this is the future of search, it may greatly reduce the amount of type in traffic.
If this type of broswer gains traction among users, other existing browsers may adopt some or many of these types of features as well.
Go check it out, watch the video and let me know your thoughts
Jim Fleming says
Ironic, you may “understand” (eventually) how ZOOM://ZOOM works.
MHB says
I doubt it.
Jim Fleming says
@MHB
The insidious aspect of the Next.Big.Thing.Internet is that people will continue to sloooooowly migrate away from these 90s platforms, and people still here will not realize they are gone, or ever see where they went.
We are in agreement, many domainers will never make the trip.
Google for Darwin, evolution, intelligent design…
Chad says
Looks like its time to develop something.
Jim Fleming says
@Chad
“Looks like its time to develop something.”
===
Go West young man…
.COlorado is still wide open…it is shocking how many short generics remain
John McCormac says
Type-in traffic has always depended on a relatively new audience expecting there to be a website at the end of a generic domain. This browser/communicator might be attractive to the more knowledgable user but these people will, in turn, introduce it to others. This could turn browsing into a pack activity.
Jim Fleming says
“This could turn browsing into a pack activity.”
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Domains could also become components in what amounts to a Massive Multi-Player Video Game…with REAL People
The Harvard/Digerati crowd from the 90s had a narrow Venture Capitalist mentality for domains. Every domain had a “business plan” a “Board of Directors”, a Mission, a Sell.UP.and.Out IPO strategy and a Branding value. It was all a
template, cook-book. Then the Parking.LOT-dot-COM world emerged.
The younger generations have grown up with real-time digital. They are not interested in cruising parking lots.
Stocklone says
I’ve been using RockMelt for several days now. I absolutely love it. I even got my wife to switch and she was a hardcore Firefox user for years. I jumped from Chrome. It simplifies my browsing experience. Other browsers seem dated. My friends on Facebook have also been impressed with it. They also did a good job of allowing this to spread virally between Facebook users. So yeah. It might be the next big thing. I can done a ton stuff with very few clicks and without leaving my current webpage. What’s not to like about that?
MHB says
Stock
Well as domainers that make money off of type in traffic if this broswer catches on and results in a lot less type in traffic as it would appear it has the possibility of doing, there is a lot less to like
Scott Alliy says
Folks,
Doesnt this quote from Stocklone post say it all?
“I’ve been using RockMelt for several days now. I absolutely love it. I even got my wife to switch and she was a hardcore Firefox user for years. I jumped from Chrome. ”
Mike if Stocklone represents John Q surfer I wouldn’t be too worried about RockMelt but rather what browser tool they will shortly be switching to.
BTW this post is in now way a statement or judgement on Stocklone but rather to point out that the herd is always in motion but domains have and will never change.
Simply put and I am shure you have all heard it before. No matter where surfers are going or how they choose to get there One thing will not change they will always need a destination.
I do agree as far as PPC that this new tool might cause some stomach upset for large Domain portfolio holders but on the other hand lets not hand them the sticking award until they arrive and stick for any period of time.
Can you say MySpace … digg I mean Who? LOL
Jim Fleming says
“this new tool might cause some stomach upset for large Domain portfolio holders”
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It seems that 99% of all investments and energy in the Next.Big.Internet are aimed at the destruction of “large Domain portfolio holders”…
In many cases, that destruction is likely collateral damage. It is not that consumers are screaming for destructive solutions, consumers migrate to change and innovation.
“large Domain portfolio holders” are not about innovation and change…
Matt says
Everyone can sell me their typein portfolios at a fraction of a cost today. 🙂 I’ll take it.
Jim Fleming says
@Matt
“Everyone can sell me their typein portfolios”
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Why would they bother ?
If they just fail to renew, their Registrar will likely pick up their drops and add them to their parking lots.
If the anti-parking movements (TM Lobby) get their way, the .COM annual maintenance costs will approach $1000 per name. Can parking lots survive?
domain guy says
@stocklone mentions rockmelt and then his friends at facebook. exactly who is facebook?
500 million people worldwide,under 35,tech savy,people that do not have the ability to think individually..specifically they follow the herd where are they roaming to?of which 350 million are not in the usa.
these people are lazy..and go with the flow.fb has no established biz plan but a new movie.
and with smartphones controlling 25% of the market and expanding voice is the big thing not a browser that clicks.these people are lazy and people are looking for a destination. what happens when you are on your fb friends list and they give you bad advice?or have limited knowledge in their small heads?there is more to life,than friends,music,movies, radio and tv.
i have yet to hear one intelligent statement anywhere coming from any fb fan,company
or any affliation.what you are seeing here is fracturing of the market as I stated before google is the problem.up next will be the adoption period…with microhoo controlling 50% of the operating system market is anybody going to be installing rockmelting quickly? no, netscape can atest to this fact.there is only a limited number of items that can be displayed on a webpage there is a big world out there besides what is being displayed and what stocklone just explained he cut his world down by 99% i see nothing smart here but a shrinking head.
THIS IS NOT A CUT DOWN OF STOCKLONE JUST A STATEMENT TO THE HERD BEHAVIOR.
NOTHING PERSONAL HERE STOCKLONE WE APPRECIATE YOUR INSIGHT TO THIS EMERGING PLATFORM…….disclaimer ……this is domain guys opinion…..
DomainsPriceWorldRecord.com 99.9% OFF says
since derived from Chrome… it will help or kill its “father” browser?
rj says
Just what i need, another browser change. I am one of those who log into FB only a few times per month, so if this new browser is social network oriented I don’t really care.
Jim Fleming says
“Just what i need, another browser change.”
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Stay tuned, you can change Operating System soon.
…
Open Source Windows XP Compatible
…
://ReactOS.COM
James says
FS started selling names a year or so ago after years of refusals. If you get a $20k offer for a domain that brings in $400 a year, you’re better off selling it, no?
The value in a domain is what someone’s vision of what it could be, is. When a person has a vision for an online business, they need a domain. If that domain describes what they do, they will have a head start.
As PPC income has been falling, do we value our domains less? No, in fact the opposite is true; it has made us think of the TRUE value in our names.
If I made or sold yachts, the domain I would covet most would be yachts.com – no browser or social network or whatever would alter that desire.
A twist on the usual analogy of domains = real estate; why do financial institutions pay through the nose for offices on Wall St / in The City (London)? The answer (in most cases) is just so they can say they have that office. The better the address, the more bragging rights they have. They don’t rely on passing business (read type in traffic) as they don’t have any. They pay more for those addresses because of what it says about their company; their status amongst their peers.
So, this could be bad news if you rely on type in traffic (underline the ‘could’) but it shouldn’t alter the value of your portfolio.
MHB says
James
I agree with you in that domains should never have been valued based on PPC earnings and domain like gold have risen in value through this worldwide recession.
However for domainers that generate six, seven and even eight figures a year in PPC, its a big issue
William says
Personally that is not what I want out of my browser. I want Chrome. Light and fast and basically the opposite of that browser.
Even if people do like the idea of it – waaaaay too many things going on there. It will be confusing to people and if they try it for a day and are confused they will never use it again.
imo…
steve cheatham says
I know many people who migrate to the next new browser before it even comes out. It is a pack and they leave behind a few real users, sometimes.
The parking pack has had something to worry about for the past 2 – 3 years. Those sites have no real value to the end user. That era is way past over.
Developing a useful destination has always been the priority here. That works no matter how people arrive to it. It’s content that rules and location (as in diretc nav primium names) helps a lot.
No problem.
Adam says
Mike, did you hire Jim to respond to all your comments ? sheesh.
MHB says
Adam
You should see the one’s I have been deleting
Steve M says
Yea, right.
RockMelt: The .mobi of the browsers.
When all is said and done … more is said than done.
Jim Fleming says
If the anti-parking movements (TM Lobby) get their way, the [.CO] .COM annual maintenance costs will approach $1000 per name.
There will not be a need for [.CO] .COM because the .BRAND will be the TLD.
Can parking lots survive?
How many .BRAND TLDs will be “Active” (i.e. Famous) ?
100 ?
1000 ?
10000 ?
Will the Internet fork at this stage with a CHAOS Net headed in one direction and the .BRAND Net dominating the current base ?
DNS and TLDs are not needed to operate a CHAOS Net – Clue helps
eric says
This sort of browser has been around a while. Flock built a “micro/social browser” almost 5 years ago. http://www.crunchbase.com/company/flock
Stephen Douglas_Successclick.com says
To not Paraphrase, but make a point:
“It’s the BRAND, stupid.”
90% of domainers today are investing in domains that don’t crank out big bucks from PPC. They’re going to either flip the domain which is a descriptive generic domain to a company that is relevant to the domain’s prodservs, or their going to build out the domain either as a mini site or a full blown site, depending on the quality of the domain.
So many variations of domain monetization, so little time.