On Friday, December 16^th, we held the #gTLDChat: “.YourLocation, Bringing Your Local Identity Online.” The chat was focused on what communities can do and why communities should get a new TLD, such as .Paris.

In a little over thirty minutes, there was great conversation on Twitter as representatives from Neustar, Minds + Machines, ICANNWiki, NIC.br, and more joined.

The questions we asked included:

• Why should cities apply for new TLDs?
• Why would a registrant want a city/geo gTLD domain, when they already have a domain name?
• What are the different ways that a city will apply for a new TLD?
• What are the different business models cities can use?

Below we have included a full transcript of the chat if you would like to read.

Much of our discussion was on the first two questions, why a city should apply and why a registrant would want a city/geo gTLD domain.

There are many reasons why a city could or should apply for a new TLD. These include revenue, improved branding, promote economic development, tourism, to be associated with a given community, and more.

Communities and municipalities would be able to sell domains to area businesses to promote location. For example, a restaurant owner in Paris would now have the opportunity to have the domain myrestaurant.paris. This allows people to find local and promote local.

When it comes to registrants and why they should register with a domain with a new gTLD, it was noted the importance and the ease of which consumers could find a business in a specific locality.

As international businesses begin to establish themselves in localities such as Paris, London, New York and others, they can also begin to segment to the areas. For example, Louis Vuitton might want to bring their London identity online to louisvuitton.london. Having this online presence allows consumers to know they are looking at the website for the London Louis Vuitton store.

Some great quotes from the chat include:

• “Geo gTLDs enable major national or global brands can brand themselves as being part of the community.  Ride the locavore wave!” ~@gTLDNews
• “Build an Internet territory instead of just being part of the we” ~ @_rubensk
• “Individuals may want to associate with cities – as a New Yorker at heart, Yankee fan & Broadway fanatic, I want a .nyc name!” ~ @jintlaw
• “City names are often famous brands, signalling special qualities made famous by years of trading” ~@pdengatethrush