In an article this week, Delicious founder Joshua Schachter made some very compelling arguments for why URL shorteners might be bad for the web. However, I want to make some points for the opposite argument: that URL shorteners are good for web culture and the growth of the Internet. Here are my reasons for why URL shorteners are useful to the web:
One of the reasons that bit.ly has received so much attention lately is because of the comprehensive data Bitly provides in the form of live click data, geographic location, the webpage the link where the link was clicked, and more. This type of information is invaluable to webmasters and companies – it shows where customers are coming from, when they are coming, and what interests them.
This type of information helps companies develop better products and webmasters produce more targeted content. Detailed information makes the economy more efficient.
There was a good piece on GigaOM that discussed how Bit.ly could launch its own version of Digg. While this may or may not be Bit.ly’s eventual goal (just like Digg, a URL shortener could be gamed), it’s clear that the data that URL shorteners can accumulate, coupled with the rise of short URL sharing on Twitter and other websites, could amount to some innovative social media services that display popular links, rank domains, and act as a filter or aggregate of social media content.
URL shorteners, in their own way, work as aggregates of information. This can lead to some useful mashups and innovations in how people share and digest content.
A new URL shortener, Pagetweet, caught my eye. It’s a little more complicated than other URL shorteners (I don’t understand why it requires a security code), but when you look at an actual page via Pagetweet, it provides a useful interface for sharing via social media, seeing the number of views, and more.
Because it’s so easy for companies to enter this space, innovations are constantly being made that improve the user experience. Digg recently launched a DiggBar and Digg URL shortener, which provides information on the number of Diggs and comments any article has received. This is only the beginning.
Users also have a choice – they can follow links that will provide features, or simply choose ones with only the necessary functionality to get them to a web page. All in all though, URL shorteners can improve the browsing experience.
You can simply fit more links and content in less space with URL shorteners. A tweet can describe and then link to a webpage in under 140 characters, while a full URL might not even come with an explanation.
Even more important is the rise of mobile smartphones, texting, and mobile Internet – it’s far easier to text in a short URL than a long one. As Twitter, social media, and mobile Internet become more popular, the need to make sharing web content easier will increase. Shorter URLs are becoming more and more integral to that cause.
1) Su.pr: The Official URL Shortener from Stumble Upon and one of the best available in the market.
- Help to Increase traffic.
- Real time analytics showing how many people click through the links and how many people came through StumbleUpon.
- Suggest the best posting time based on past data.
- Tells the number of retweets and reviews.
- History Viewer.
- Sharing functionality
2) Goo.gl: Official URL shortener from Google.
- Reliable and trusted.
- Shows real time click analytics on hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and all time basis of all the short Google links.
- Public Stats
3) Bitly:
- View complete, real-time traffic & analytics data.
- Sharing functionality
- Bitly is available via website, browser extensions, mobile web, & numerous third-party tools.
- Build good traffic.
4) Tinyurl:
- Browser toolbar
- Hide Affiliate URLs
- Preview Feature
5) Budurl: Budurl comes with lot of additional premium features apart from shortening the link.
- Emails to prospects & clients
- QR Code integration for print campaigns
- Use their Mobile Micro-Sites to drive traffic for mobile campaigns
- Schedule your Tweets
- Detailed stats of Blog posts & comments on sites
- Links to PDFs and other files on my website and in emails
- Affiliate links
- Advertising links
6) Is.gd:
- Make URLs easier to read aloud using our custom shortened URL facility or our pronounceable URL facility.
- Make QR codes of shortened URL links.
7) Cli.gs:
- Custom Links
- Private Detailed stats
- Displays geolocation data as a map rather than a chart.
- Sharing feature
Despite the useful qualities of URL shorteners, I still have reservations. As Schachter stated in his blog post on URL shorteners, a URL shortening service being hacked could instill havoc across the web: destroying links to websites or (worse) turning them into malware links. This and other possibilities are frightening, which is why entrepreneurs need to lead the way in creating new innovations to make URL shorteners faster, more secure, and more friendly to the users. It’s clear that URL shorteners are here to stay: the challenge for the web community is to find ways to enjoy their benefits and protect against their downfalls.
Good news: innovation seems to be accelerating. Bit.ly recently raised approximately $2 million in venture funding, Digg just launched its URL shortener, and StumbleUpon is coming out with its own as well. But more innovations, in the form of WordPress plugins, shorteners not reliant on 3rd party redirects, and social media features, are needed if URL shorteners are to be a mainstay of the web. I predict that there will be a day when every domain has URL shortening capabilities, lessening the load on the web and DNS. And don’t be surprised if Twitter comes out with a URL shortener of its own.
Do you have thoughts or predictions on URL shorteners? Want to share an innovative UR
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Nabila 29 Agustus 2007  Depok, Indonesia
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