The top-level domain (TLD) you’ve asked about, .HANGOUT, currently does not exist in the official list of Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) TLDs. The IANA is responsible for the global coordination of the DNS Root, IP addressing, and other Internet protocol resources. It maintains a complete list of TLDs, which can be found on their official website: https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt.
TLDs are the last segment of a domain name – the letters immediately following the final dot, like .com in www.example.com. They are primarily categorized into two types: generic TLDs (gTLDs) like .com, .net, .org, .gov, .edu, and country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) that represent specific geographic locations, like .us (United States), .fr (France), .jp (Japan), etc.
After the introduction of the New gTLD Program by ICANN, hundreds of new gTLDs have been introduced for various entrepreneurs, businesses, and communities to establish their unique digital identity. Some examples include .tech, .music, .app, .book, and more.
As already mentioned, as of now, .HANGOUT is not among the list of approved gTLDs. However, entities or communities interested in advocating for it may apply through ICANN’s New gTLD Program where applicants meet a variety of technical, financial, and legal criteria (https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/). A notable example of this would be the application and launch of .google by Google Inc. to establish a corporate-specific digital identity.
On the contrary, “hangouts” is notably recognized as an application by Google. Google Hangouts is a cross-platform messaging app developed by Google that serves as the company’s chat system, originally a feature of Google+, then a stand-alone product in 2013. This service allows direct messaging, group chats, voice calls and video calls. It is accessible through the web (https://hangouts.google.com/), and also has standalone mobile applications for iOS and Android. However, it doesn’t imply a connection with a potential .HANGOUT TLD.
To conclude, while it is always possible that new gTLDs can be created and approved in future phases of ICANN’s New gTLD Program, .HANGOUT is not currently an existing TLD. Therefore, for the time being, it can’t be used for constructing a domain name. Those interested in obtaining a unique or specific TLD not currently in existence should direct their interest to ICANN and the new gTLD application program.
