These days, media specialists are gathering information not just from traditional offline sources but from the deep levels of online resources. In fact, in 2017, 42% of journalist surveyed across various countries stated they were already using digital data in their stories twice or more per week — indicating that this data is getting more and more important.

To support this trend, our media partnership service provides the appropriate tools to collect and deliver information or supplement the search of data for journalists, influencers, bloggers, editors, and other media professionals.

These tools are part of our Domain Research Suite (DRS) aimed to track website domains, monitor their behavior, and understand connections with other domains. They are useful in providing details about a particular entity as well as present a wealth of newsworthy insights into malicious online activities. Incidentally, there should be plenty of them for journalists to discover. By the first quarter of 2018, it was found that 11,135 domains had already been used for phishing.

In this article, we would like to talk about how our DRS products enable media professionals to expand their research methods.

WHOIS Search

The WHOIS Search tool is a crucial source of key data points regarding domains. Journalists can look up information in our WHOIS databases that contain 300 million active domain names and 5 billion historical WHOIS records. The data is organized and parsed in a consistent format for easy integration into journalists’ research processes.

The service can provide various registration details related to domains, such as names of domain hosts, dates of domain changes, contact information, domain registrar information, and more.

Brand Monitor

This tool specializes in overseeing a domain’s brand-related activities and might be useful both for journalists monitoring certain companies and individuals. It issues alerts whenever there are domain names that bear very close similarities to that of established companies. This comes in handy for professionals investigating possible copyright infringement.

Brand Monitor can also help foresee if a brand is planning to add a website to their extended line of products or services. Additionally, the monitoring could also be keyword-focused. Journalists concentrating on a targeted niche or industry can work with the raw information which is being gathered. Media influencers can get valuable updates when monitoring their competitions’ domains by using this tool.

Bulk WHOIS Search

The process of searching domains in bulk could prove crucial for various research processes. For example, a domain can be compared with several other sites using the proven reliability of WHOIS records. If anything suspicious is detected about a target domain, such as its inconsistent contact details, this can be further investigated.

Websites claiming to have been in the industry for a long time but whose registrant details, such as domain dates, don’t add up, could provide interesting leads.

There are more ways in which the Bulk WHOIS search tool can be used either for the media company’s own business use, a practitioner’s personal branding efforts, or for gathering information to produce a story.

Registrant Alert

This is a practical tool for those media professionals who want to stay updated on an individual or an organization they have been eyeing discreetly.

Domain registrant’s details like their name, telephone number, email, and address could be the starting point for research. One can also use the Registrant Alert to get real-time notifications about a target domain owner. Activities of a particular registrant such as adding or removing domains and other important information are also forwarded to the researcher.

Specific details about a target registrant can be inputted into the tool to see what other sites the individual might own or have owned. Inconsistent details such as the variation of host names for different sites can provide clues about the entity’s activities.

Reverse WHOIS Search

Much like the concept of reverse engineering, journalists can use the Reverse WHOIS Search tool to check the details about a certain domain and its connections in different ways. One can use this product’s filters to input only specific details when conducting searches. It is also possible to use both the fuzzy match and exact match features.

Moreover, historic records for both active and inactive domains can be examined, allowing researchers to check the patterns of activities in these domains — including potentially fraudulent ones.

Domain Monitoring and Availability

The Domain Monitoring and Domain Availability tools deal with presenting the changes and the availability of certain domains. Media practitioners can navigate them for various purposes. For instance, they can be a starting point for their research if they want to confirm the existence and the nature of any domain. These tools can also serve the personal branding purposes of a media company or a professional.

The world of domain names and its numerous connections is a treasure trove of information which journalists can find invaluable in creating engaging stories. If you are a media professional ready to look for materials in the digital realm, then contact us at [email protected] to learn more about our Domain Research Suite (DRS) and media partnership services.