Over ten years ago I learned the hard away about my domain. I purchased kin lane.com from a website hosting provider I found online, and after they drained over 1K from my bank account for a simple $10.00 website and domain purchase, they proceeded to squat on my domain for almost two years. Eventually I got my domain back, but it taught me some serious lessons about navigating this new online world we were creating for ourselves.
Fast-forward ten years, and I’ve not just learned a lot more about operating online, I have generated quite a bit of content, and value within my domain, giving me even more reason to protect not just my domain, but my brand. I produce a lot of content online, in the form of Tweets, blog posts, and other online exhaust from my daily life as the API Evangelist, and it is in my best interest to control as much of this content as I can.
While I have my online brand to protect, and overall I have a heightened awareness around my online persona, this is something everyone should learn about. You may not have a valuable blog, online portfolio or other valuable online assets, but eventually you might. No matter who you are online, you should work to understand where your content, images, video and other assets you generate reside, and retain as much control over them as possible.
The business model of major companies like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Instagram and Youtube are all based upon you generating valuable content that people want to view, which then allows these companies to generate revenue by selling advertising or access to your (their) content. It is in their best interest to retain as much control over your content as they can. In 2014 there are many ways to assert control over your online world, and this project site is about me doing it for myself, but under a larger umbrella called Reclaim Your Domain.
Hopefully you can learn from me, an IT and API professional doing this for my own needs, but in a way that helps you understand what is possible for your own domain.
