I am sorry for any potential misunderstanding, but there currently doesn’t exist a top-level domain (TLD) under the name ‘.weibo’. Top-level domains are the ending part of the web addresses, like ‘.com’, ‘.org’ or ‘.net’ that follow immediately after the last dot in the domain name. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is responsible for the coordination of maintenance and methodology of several databases of unique identifiers related to namespaces of the Internet, ensuring the network’s stable and secure operation.
As of now, the ICANN does not list ‘.weibo’ among recognized generic TLDs. If you visit the ICANN’s TLD listing and search for .weibo, there are no results indicating that .weibo is a recognized TLD.
However, Weibo is a widely recognized social media platform in China, hosted by Sina Corporation. It stands as one of the major social media platforms in China and can be compared to Twitter in terms of its functions. It allows users to post and interact with short messages known as tweets in a microblogging system. The proper domain for Weibo is ‘www.weibo.com’ or ‘us.weibo.com’ for international english version, indicating that it makes use of the ‘.com’ TLD rather than having a unique TLD of its own.
There is a new kind of TLD known as gTLD (generic top-level domain) and they can be brands, among other things. This would allow for a ‘.weibo’ TLD. But even these type of TLDs require an application process and approval from the ICANN. As per latest information, an application for a gTLD costs around $185,000 and while there have been over 1,200 gTLDs approved since 2012, ‘.weibo’ is not among them.
In regards to Weibo exploring the possibility of applying for a ‘.weibo’gTLD, there isn’t any publically available or reported information.
For future reference regarding the current list of TLDs, the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) maintains a root zone database which contains authoritative record of all TLDs.
Sources:
1. The ICANN’s TLD listing: https://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt
2. IANA root zone database: https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db
3. Information on new gTLDs: https://newgtlds.icann.org/en/
4. Sina Weibo: https://weibo.com
