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URL Shorteners

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URL Shorteners

A URL Shortener is a service that takes long URLs and squeezes them into fewer characters to make a link easier to share, tweet, or email to friends.

For example, the short URL: http://goo.gl/l6MS is a convenient shorthand representation for the long URL http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/making-urls-shorter-for-google-toolbar.html

Why use a URL shortener

What's the point?

Link manageability: What is easier to share? A URL that is 20 characters long, or one that is 150 characters long? Also, some urls are so long, that it is impossible to identify them. With some URL shorteners, you can customize the link to make it obvious what is being linked to. For example http://tinyurl.com/surveyforclass
Stats: They can track useful click data. For example, you can see when a link has been clicked, how often, and sometimes even where it was clicked. Some URL shorteners will also show conversations taking place about the link on public networks like Twitter.
They promote sharing: Similar to the first reason, length is an obvious detriment when tweeting or texting a link.