Why rarely use.us domain names in the United States?

On October 12, 2016, according to statistics from a third-party website, the United States country code domain ".us" recently surpassed 2 million registrations, with the current number standing at around 2.09 million.

The ".us" domain was first opened for registration on February 15, 1985, making it a venerable 31-year-old top-level domain (TLD). Currently managed by Neustar, it has a long and storied history. However, due to the preference of American users and businesses for the ".com" TLD, the development of ".us" has been relatively slow. As of March this year, its registration count was only at 1.7 million.

According to data from domaintools, some country code domains that have experienced robust growth include ".tk," ".de," ".cn," and ".uk," with registrations exceeding 10 million for each of these TLDs. The ".tk" domain stands out as it allows free registration, boasting a registration count of 17.85 million and ranking first among all country code domains. The German ".de" domain currently has 14.29 million registrations, the Chinese ".cn" domain has 11.36 million registrations, and the British ".uk" domain has 10.19 million registrations.

It is evident that ".us" lags behind these TLDs significantly and is not the primary choice for domestic websites. Additionally, registration restrictions vary among country code domains, with ".us" having relatively lenient restrictions, making it accessible to almost anyone. In contrast, ".de" and ".cn" have stricter restrictions, typically limited to citizens of their respective countries.

Due to its unique historical reasons, the United States has been the only country not required to append a country code to its domain names. American companies are accustomed to using ".com" domain endings, often overlooking the ".us" domain. It wasn't until April 24, 2002, that the general public in the United States began registering and using this shorter, more memorable domain. ".US" domains are open for registration by individuals, organizations, and businesses, but in practice, ".us" is primarily used by government agencies, schools, and some community organizations.

It appears that Americans consider international domains as their own country code domains, reflecting the dominance of the United States in the domain name space. As a rising global power, should China also treat international domains as its own country code domains, or should it follow the example of Germany, the UK, and Japan by actively managing its own country code domains? In my opinion, the latter approach could enhance the national image.