Facebook registers domains for 'FB Origin'

Summary: Why has Facebook registered domains for 'FB Origin'? Why did the company not register domain names for 'Facebook Origin'? Will Facebook users ever see Origin or is it just for internal use?

By Emil Protalinski for Friending Facebook | January 19, 2012 -- 12:54 GMT (04:54 PST)

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On the same day Facebook unleashed new Open Graph apps for its Timeline profile, the company registered multiple domain names for something called "FB Origin." A quick whois lookup shows the following six domains all belong to Facebook as of yesterday (via Fusible):

Here is the full Whois Record for fborigin.com:

Registrant: Domain Administrator Facebook, Inc. 1601 Willow Road Menlo Park CA 94025 US +1.6505434800 Fax: +1.6505434800

Domain Name: fborigin.com

Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com Registrar Homepage: http://www.markmonitor.com

Administrative Contact: Domain Administrator Facebook, Inc. 1601 Willow Road Menlo Park CA 94025 US +1.6505434800 Fax: +1.6505434800 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Domain Administrator Facebook, Inc. 1601 Willow Road Menlo Park CA 94025 US +1.6505434800 Fax: +1.6505434800

Created on..............: 2012-01-18. Expires on..............: 2014-01-18. Record last updated on..: 2012-01-18.

Domain servers in listed order:

ns3.facebook.com ns4.facebook.com ns5.facebook.com

What makes this registration even more puzzling is that Facebook wasn't very thorough, assuming it really is interested in the Origin name. A quick search shows that the following five domain names are still available: facebookorigin.net, facebookorigin.org, facebookorigin.biz, facebookorigin.info, and facebookorigin.co.uk.

It turns out facebookorigin.com is registered, to an Anton Bengtsson of Sweden, but only because Facebook didn't grab it first. Bengtsson made the purchase today, clearly hoping that Facebook will have to buy it from him if they want the domain at a later date.

It's too early to say if Facebook is planning on launching a new product or service called Origin. Maybe the company wants the domain name for its own internal purposes, and that's why it specifically chose the shorter "fb" over "facebook." For example, Facebook's employees use @fb.com for their e-mail addresses.

Companies often register domain names just in case and never do anything with them. We'll just have to wait and see if something comes from this or not, although right now it doesn't look very likely. If you know any more information, please do let me know.

I have contacted Facebook for more information and will update you if I hear back.