Google has goo.gl. The New York Times has nyti.ms. They're not trying to be cool. There are serious practical advantages to controlling your own URL shortener.

Google has goo.gl. The New York Times has nyti.ms. They're not trying to be cool. There are serious practical advantages to controlling your own URL shortener. People are going to shorten your URLs whether or not you have one, and having your own lets you collect data about how people are using it.