Our world looks a lot different when mapped by domain name usage
What would happen if you redrew the nations of the world based on the popularity of their respective domain suffixes? That image above, that's what. The inquisitive folks over at Nominet set off on a mission to "visualize global internet use," and the resulting maphighlights quite a few surprises.
Despite being home to over 266 million internet users, the US looks downright minuscule stood next to Holland, Germany, and Italy. Tokelau, of all places, steals the show. The island territory is home to fewer than 2,000 people -- and indeed, is all but unknown outside of the globetrotting sect -- but its .tk domain name has proven wildly popular.
To date, there are over 31 million registered websites that end in .tk, which seems eerily suspicious until you consider that it's one of the only domains offering gratis registration. For .tk sites that sit unused, advertisements are inserted and profits are shared; in fact, a sixth of Tokelau's GDP is derived from those ads.
No comments:
Post a Comment