Categories: Articles

What's In A – Domain – Name? Ask Max Barry

Apparently everything.
Just ask author Max Barry who had a very interesting (and funny) Blog post, I, Nerd, in his Blog, MaxBarry.com. It turns out that there’s a whole new level of stress associated with naming your child – as if naming a child is not stressful enough.
Max Barry actually checked the availability of his child-to-be’s name (just .com Barry, or .net as well?). Barry wanted his child’s name to have an available domain. I agree with everything you’re thinking, this is Matrix scary.
On the other hand, it does say something about what’s in a name. How many companies spend tons o’ bucks doing their best to secure as many relevant domains as possible? Why not provide that same security to a child? I did my best to secure my personal name as a domain as well. I also believe that going forward, your domain, your mobile number or whatever digital ID you use will be your name. Nobody wants to give up their Gmail username, their My Yahoo! or their cell phone number.
My name is my password.
We’re there. Your digital life is your ID. Do I think that Barry has gone too far? Maybe a little. But, maybe we all need to have a bit of vision. What if Barry could create something akin to a MySpace at that domain. With his family all over the world, what better way to share how his child is doing? What better way for that child, as they get older, to stay in touch with family and friends? To Blog, to Podcast to invite friends, to exchange photos.
It’s not so far fetched. For some people, it’s already here.
Domain names matter. They matter to marketers. They matter to consumers. They should matter to you. Especially if your business is your child.
Check out Barry’s Blog here: I, Nerd.
Thanks Matt.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.