What came first: Twitter or the egg?
There’s been a surge in the number of url shortening websites since Twitter’s explosion a few years ago. The first url service, tinyurl.com (the egg), is said to have been conceived as early as 2001, well before Twitter hatched.
Are we too quick to proclaim Twitter as the shortened url’s raison d’etre? It may seem that way — as the convenience of short links are given their reason for being by tweeple’s use of them — but more surrounds this move towards shorter web addresses.
I first noticed these tinyurls and bit.lys when I started tweeting in 2009, and didn’t understand where they came from or how to use them myself. Now, I see that they do more than give character space in tweets and mobile messaging.
As a registered user, you can view the statistical history behind the web addresses you shorten and post. This is convenient for big-time bloggers and self-branding experts looking at their reader sources. Also, as I’ve discovered, it’s kind of useful as a motivational tool for those just starting out.
Whether I shorten a url for a tweet to a post or a video, where ever that short link is accessed, the amount of clicks is logged and documented.
As a user of bit.ly, I can access statistical data in various forms. Clearly, I am Canadian. For Pro users, the number of utilities and statistical services is much greater.
I would be interested in seeing a popular blogger or pro bit.ly user’s statistics, just to see the breakdown.
For my purposes right now, bit.ly is a good fit. For others, though, there has to be some comfort in being able to choose the url shortening and statistical service that is right for them.
While there are contentious issues related to these services, from the veiling of websites before they are accessed to the allocation of funds for these services, this trend is more likely a shift.
The misdeeds of a few internet pranksters won’t sway opinion too negatively. Plus, with hundreds of these services popping up, they will be mass tested before being mass consumed.
Those that don’t pass the initial tests of utility will fizzle out, likely without any chance of re-birth by an incubator not powered by Google: http://bit.ly/9A80Iq
Juan Time For Your Mind 