Qwikster, Teaparty.com are hot properties online. How much would they sell for?
Sometimes fame just falls into your lap. Thanks to events completely out of their control, a disbanded Canadian rock group and a young soccer enthusiast suddenly hold online properties that are hot and in demand.
Will riches follow?
First there鈥檚 , which is not owned by the right-wing political movement, but by a Canadian rock band. The Tea Party, which hails from Windsor, Ontario, and pioneered a brand of Middle-Eastern fusion rock they call 鈥�Moroccan Roll鈥� got together in 1990. They registered their now-valuable domain name in 1993. After peaking in the mid-1990鈥檚, the band broke up in 2005.
But the political movement of the same name has made the online moniker Tea Party suddenly valuable. Some experts are estimating that the domain name could sell for more than $1 million.
In response to the political association, the homepage currently reads 鈥淣o politics 鈥� just Rock and Roll.鈥� The band is sick of the confusion and may be looking to sell, according to Boomberg Businessweek,. 鈥淪o much damage has been done to our name by the political movement that we鈥檙e considering selling,鈥� Tea Party bassist Stuart Chatwood told the magazine.
鈥�$1 million is about what I鈥檇 guess,鈥� says Michael Shamos, director of Carnegie Mellon University's e-commerce program in Pittsburgh.
The political tea party already owns , , and , among others. But according to Mr. Shamos, is far more essential.
鈥淚t has extraordinary value, in terms of e-commerce,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople want to put dotcom after everything, because it鈥檚 the most commonly known. If I tell you about the Tea Party, you鈥檙e going to look up 蹿颈谤蝉迟.鈥�
Capitalizing on Qwikster, the name of Netflix's new DVD rental service, may be trickier for Jason Castillo, whose online moniker on Twitter is Qwikster.
On Monday, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that the company would be splitting its streaming and DVD rental content into two separate brands, renaming the DVD rental section 鈥淨wikster.鈥� Unlike , the domain was available for company use. But the Twitter tag was already taken, by Mr. Castillo.
Since the Netflix announcement, Castillo鈥檚 seldom-used Twitter account is up to 10,786 followers (adding to the fascination, and embarrassment for Netflix, Castillo鈥檚 feed is decidedly un-corporate. His tweets are often about soccer, marijuana, and getting money from his dad for food. Until recently, the feed鈥檚 profile picture was a cartoon of a stoned Elmo, a monster character on "Sesame Street.".
Given Twitter鈥檚 increasing relevance as a marketing and corporate branding tool, the name is a hot property. But cashing in on the @Qwikster tag may be difficult. According to Twitter policy, users aren鈥檛 allowed to sell user names or other Twitter content, unless they have express written permission from Twitter. Policy also states that Twitter 鈥渞eserve[s]鈥� the right to terminate users or reclaim usernames.鈥�
鈥淚f it鈥檚 a corporate account, it can be sold. If it鈥檚 a personal account, they can鈥檛 sell it,鈥� Shamos says.
In an e-mail, a Twitter representative said the company was unavailable to comment. But perhaps the company will be able to work out a deal with Castillo, who seems open to the idea of selling . 鈥淕ot offer [sic] $1,000,鈥� he tweeted yesterday, and then referred to someone else acting, apparently, as his manager. 鈥淵ou guys should follow my bro @SoccerisLifeG7 and I鈥檒l think about selling it to whoever supports my bro.鈥�
