In response to (1), link shorteners provide a very limited amount of clickstream insight and – in most cases – should not be used as a replacement for URL query

In response to (1), link shorteners provide a very limited amount of clickstream insight and – in most cases – should not be used as a replacement for URL query string parameters. Several link shorteners may impose their own set of query parameters, unless configured otherwise, which can distort clickstream and referrer data in Google Analytics, Omniture, and so forth. That said link shorteners are useful for hiding complexity and for quickly and simply tracking how many clicks a link receives. This includes clicks on links to domains that you do not own, or sites for which you would be unable to view visitor and clickstream data.