Have you noticed how many link shortening services have become available? It’s crazy. Every major website even has their own. Myspace automatically converts any links posted on there to a “lnk.ms” format. There is nothing on the actual website, so you can’t use this service for your own purposes. There is tinyurl.com, bit.ly, and tons more. So let’s go over these and the features they grant us.

Why use such a service in the first place?

I think we should ask ourselves what’s the importance of these new URL shortening websites.

Reason 1. It’s simple, they make websites shorter. The best use is probably for twitter where you only have 140 characters to tell your message to others.  Here’s an example:

http://www.davepcguy.com/archive/custom-e-mail-form/

becomes

http://tinyurl.com/yzx5f4d

And already my character count has decreased from 52 to a measly 25.  Let’s go further:

bit.ly/2Sub4k

And the character count is down to 13. It’s amazing huh? Now I can write a full 127 character message instead of only 88 characters.

Reason 2. The next reason to use the url shortening services is to mask our websites. It’s not only good for spammers but everyone else as well. Let’s say I wrote an article you didn’t like, you’d probably watch out whenever I’d post an article on the same website again. If it was masked, you’d automatically give me a second chance.

Also, here’s something I commonly do. I get on good-tutorials.com and submit my tutorials. The submission is usually for others to look through and if I get enough attention, the moderators will look it over and evaluate it. Well, since I’m already posting links to my article from elsewhere, I use their link. Here, let’s look at the progress:

Original: http://www.davepcguy.com/archive/custom-e-mail-form/

Good-tutorial tracker: http://www.good-tutorials.com/track/41945

Final URL:  http://is.gd/4rTIb

No one will know that the website was redirected twice, because it happens instantaneously and I get a good measure of how many people clicked on my links through good-tutorials.com. Which is great, because not only do I know how many people visited my website, but I also boost my popularity on the online tutorial submission websites.

TinyURL.com

tinyurl website

TinyURL.com is nothing fancy but it’s a good website. I love it because it’s so simple. You type in the address, press a button and that’s it. Most links are already copied onto your clipboard. The beauty of this website is the SIMPLICITY! There are no annoying ads, there are no special effects. Just copy and paste the link and you’re done.

Features:

1. Simple, minimalistic web design
2. preview function
3. custom short URLs

Average Link Size: 25 characters

Bit.ly

Bit.ly homepage

Bit.ly is basically the opposite of tinyurl. It’s fancy and that’s good. I like the interface, the use of jQuery and it’s quite a lovely site. The best part is, you can create an account and log in. Bit.ly will monitor your previously shortened URLs and the clicks it received, as well as if anyone else shortened that link. Also, this is my own personal choice of URL shorteners.

Features:

1. Account creation
2. History (of your shortened links)
3. Tracking of clicks and link usage
4. basically features Google Analytics on the link itself
5. shorter URL than most URL shorteners (by about 10 characters)
6. Firefox toolbar

Average Links Size: 20 characters

Is.Gd

Is.GD homepage

I personally don’t use is.gd, but I really don’t have a reason why I don’t. There are just so many URL shorteners. Is.GD is similar to tinyurl.com in a way because it’s simple. You paste the address and you get the result. But you won’t get anything else.

Features:

1. Paste&Click interface

Average Link Size: 18 characters

Tr.Im

Tr.IM homepage

Lovely little site. It integrates twitter (our short URL beast!) into the process so that you can automatically tweet the link. You can create an account which will keep up with your user stats as well as any custom URLs you come up with.

Features:

1. Twitter integration
2. Google Analytics-like stats (similar to Bit.ly)
3. Custom URL (password locked)
4. Account creation

Average Link Size: 17 characters

TweetBurner

TweetBurner homepage

Despite the long name (tweetburner), its links are quite short with a “twurl.nl” root. It has a twitter integration that allows you to update twitter without having an account at tweetburner.com which is great for us busy individuals who have hundreds of accounts all over the internet.

Features:

1. Awesome twitter/friendfeed integration
2. Link tracker

Average Link Size:22 characters
I’m sure if you look around, you’ll ind many more URL shorterners but these are the best of the best as far as I’m concerned. Don’t be shy and let me know if I missed any big ones!