Does it matter which URL shortening web service you use when shortening URLs? Why will one choose, say TinyUrl over any other? And is their a lifespan for the shortened URL, will there be a guarantee that it will always be available after it is created?
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2Do you absolutely need to use a URL shortener?– GelatinCommented Jun 30, 2010 at 21:04
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7How else are you gonna rickroll people? :)– adamcodesCommented Jun 30, 2010 at 21:09
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if only twitter let me use 141 characters...– Gordon GustafsonCommented Jul 1, 2010 at 0:44
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7 Answers
Jeff Atwood wrote that URL shortening is destroying the web. His argument is that URL shortening distorts PageRank.
The internet is the house that PageRank built, and it's all predicated on hyperlinks. Once you start making every link your special flavor of "shortened" link, framing the target content -- heck, maybe wrapping it in a few ads for good measure -- you've completely turned that system on its head.
answered Jun 30, 2010 at 21:13
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4I'd argue that PageRank is the house that the Internet built, not the other way around. And why not turn that system on its head? Commented Jun 30, 2010 at 22:42
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The short answer is, there isn't.
This has been recognized as a serious long term issue by many, and as such, an Internet Archive related project called 301 Works has sprung up to address this basically by providing redundancy to each providers records in case one disappears.
Personally, I'd stick with bit.ly or tinyurl.com as they are the best and oldest (respectively) out there. The fact that Twitter currently relies on bit.ly to shorten URLs through Twitter.com speaks volumes.
answered Jun 30, 2010 at 21:07
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Very true. I was an avid user of Tr.im before they shut down. Thankfully, they kept their redirection APIs online, but only until the end of this year. Commented Jun 30, 2010 at 21:15
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All TinyURL links here, except for the one that was created only 23 hours ago, have expired: mattermodeling.meta.stackexchange.com/q/166/5. Is there anything 301 Works can to do help? Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 18:23
I recommend going with the best-known (which personally for me is TinyURL) for the simple fact that people will trust it a little bit more.
When I see some of the others out there, I really do hesitate to click.
answered Jun 30, 2010 at 21:02
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1All TinyURL links here, except for the one that was created only 23 hours ago, have expired: mattermodeling.meta.stackexchange.com/q/166/5 Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 18:22
If you're creating the links and you want to be able to track activity through that link (maybe as part of a marketing campaign), then I'd recommend bit.ly. If you take any bit.ly link and add a + symbol to the end of it, you can get a bunch of stats about how that link has been shared on Twitter, how many people have clicked through etc
I agree with Kyle's point about picking a well known service for trust reasons, bit.ly is the default shortner on Twitter and very well known, so no problems there.
If you use Google Apps, you can set up your own Short Link service (available in Google Apps Marketplace, by Google Labs)... that way it's up to you which links keep working and for how long. You have to set up a new subdomain (something short like s.example.com) and then you can make short names for any page on the Internet. You also get to see a basic usage count.
I've set mine up so things like this work just fine: http://l.x3ja.com/diy-se.
A lot of apps have a url shortener built in, which explains why some people use some obscure ones.
For instance HootSuite (a Twitter 3rd party app) has a shortener for new posts, and the output is in http://ow.ly format. Many companies are getting into the game (ie NYTimes) -- perhaps for traffic analysis for their own purposes?
All TinyURL links here, except for the one that was created only 23 hours ago, have expired. It appears TinyURLs are no longer as permanent as they used to be.
The absolute shortest URL shortener I have found though, is: u.nu. The disadvantage is that you can't create an account and store your previous URLs (which is also a problem with TinyURL, but not a problem with some of the others).
