3 ms·

We don't need them. Companies that create the shorteners need them to collect information about who clicks on your links. That, and there's a service out there

We don't need them. Companies that create the shorteners need them to collect information about who clicks on your links. That, and there's a service out there that limits updates to 140 characters.

statictype 16y ago
Even before twitter, url shorteners were useful in many places. For example, a Google Maps link would be a good candidate for url shortening. When used in emails/usenet/IM windows, long urls often get mangled.
blantonl 16y ago
We do need them. While twitter pretty much spawned the whole ecosystem, there still is a very important and functional use for URL shorteners. The biggest, outside of twitter, has to be the method of emailing enormous html links to someone. With so many email clients out there, it is a crap shoot to send a link. Personally and professionally bit.ly has really helped out in those cases. With that in mind, I wonder what impact this announcement has on bit.ly and the other players. Does google provide analytics on their shortened links? What is the value be between the different shorteners now that Google has an offering.
- shrikant 16y ago
  Click on the link up top, and staring at you in the face we have this text: All goo.gl URLs and click analytics are public and can be shared by anyone.
- mfukar 16y ago
  The biggest, outside of twitter, has to be the method of emailing enormous html links to someone. Last I tried, I could send an email formatted in HTML, where: <a href="http://my.crazy.long.url.gz">See this</a> didn't take that much space, and could be read by any half-decent email client. Even alpine can do it.
  - eru 16y ago
    Yes. I guess communicating URL orally or on paper (where people have to type them in to use them, or you may even have to write them by hand) is the only real use case for URL shorteners.

3 ms·

We don't need them. Companies that create the shorteners need them to collect information about who clicks on your links. That, and there's a service out there

by stevefink 16y ago

We don't need them. Companies that create the shorteners need them to collect information about who clicks on your links. That, and there's a service out there that limits updates to 140 characters.

statictype 16y ago
Even before twitter, url shorteners were useful in many places. For example, a Google Maps link would be a good candidate for url shortening. When used in emails/usenet/IM windows, long urls often get mangled.
blantonl 16y ago
We do need them. While twitter pretty much spawned the whole ecosystem, there still is a very important and functional use for URL shorteners. The biggest, outside of twitter, has to be the method of emailing enormous html links to someone. With so many email clients out there, it is a crap shoot to send a link. Personally and professionally bit.ly has really helped out in those cases. With that in mind, I wonder what impact this announcement has on bit.ly and the other players. Does google provide analytics on their shortened links? What is the value be between the different shorteners now that Google has an offering.
- shrikant 16y ago
  Click on the link up top, and staring at you in the face we have this text: All goo.gl URLs and click analytics are public and can be shared by anyone.
- mfukar 16y ago
  The biggest, outside of twitter, has to be the method of emailing enormous html links to someone. Last I tried, I could send an email formatted in HTML, where: <a href="http://my.crazy.long.url.gz">See this</a> didn't take that much space, and could be read by any half-decent email client. Even alpine can do it.
  - eru 16y ago
    Yes. I guess communicating URL orally or on paper (where people have to type them in to use them, or you may even have to write them by hand) is the only real use case for URL shorteners.