May 29, 2008 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- One of the largest Web hosting providers in the world reported this week that it has seen recent growth in the registrations of a domain that has been working to increase its prominence.
1&1 Internet (1and1.com) said Thursday that it has seen "impressive growth" in the number of .org domains registered, which the company says suggests "an increase in web activity within the non-profit and charity sectors."
Between December 2006 and December 2007, the company says it registered more than 70,000 .org domains, an increase of 31 percent (presumably over the previous year-long period). The hosting company charges $6.99 per year for a .org domain, in a package that includes a five-page website, search engine submission and private registration.
Included in 1&1's announcement was some comment from the Public Interest Registry (pir.org), the organization that operates the .org domain, which helped to sing the praises of the work non-profits are doing online.
"The contributions of the .ORG community in recent years are amazing," says PIR CEO Alex Raad, in the 1&1 press release. "They have not only helped to galvanize interest in various causes, but by adopting trends such as social networking, have given individuals unprecedented means to inspire, educate, collaborate, and ultimately change the world as we know it."
The Public Interest Registry might take some issue, though, with 1&1's assumption about the charity-related reason for the increase, given its recent efforts to make people in general aware that there are actually no registration restrictions on the .org domain, which is most commonly associated with non-profits.
In April, the group launched a resource center for users of the .org domain. Along with providing resources to the long-standing non-profit audience for the domain, the company sought to clear up misconceptions that the .org domain was limited to use by non-profits, and offered examples of groups using .org domains in "numerous ways."
And in a decidedly for-profit move, the company reported earlier this month that it intends to raise the price of .org domain registration by 10 percent in November of this year.
1&1 says it is participating in PIR's "World Voices" campaign, which intended to showcase the contributions of the .org community, and, says Raad, to "position the Public Interest Registry as a passionate steward of the namespace and a fierce advocate for the rights of its community."
