Mark Zuckerberg Launches Technology Lobby On FWD.us

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced his new technology lobby today and they have decided to build the brand on FWD.us. The brand name is pronounced “Forward U.S.” and comprises some of the most influential names in tech. Joe Green, an entrepreneur in residence (EIN) for Andreessen Horowitz will be serving as the president of FWD.us. Joe was the co-founder of NationBuilder, a successful community building platform founded in 2011 that raised $6.25M last March.

fwd_us

As you can see from the front page of the site the initial focus is immigration reform which is a very hot topic in the tech world right now. In a Washington Post article Zuckerberg was quoted saying:

“To lead the world in this new economy, our workforce needs the most talented and hardest-working people. We need to train and attract the best.” (Washington Post)

While there are a number of other technology lobbies out there, none are run by Mark Zuckerberg who brings a certain level of attention and press interest that is pretty darn hard to match.

I think this also shows a .US name being used in the way it was intended. As many of you know I invested heavily in .US when I started out in the domain industry only to find-out they have very limited liquidity. I don’t think buying tons of 3L .US names is going to make you a fortune, even if the Zuck is building a brand on one.

What I do think this shows is that people are becoming more comfortable with .US as Americas ccTLD. Sure, .COM is still king but for causes like this where the focus is on the US, .US is about as good a fit as you can get.

Morgan Linton

Morgan Linton