Because long URLs can be unsightly and can “break” in emails, producing errors and “not found” messages, there will always be a need for URL shorteners. For a long time, the only URL shortener I ever used was TinyURL, which was simple to use and did the job. Then, of course, I discovered bit.ly– and haven’t looked back.
A big reason bit.ly has risen in popularity is, of course, because it’s Twitter‘s default shortener- but it’s also an awesome service. For example, bit.ly will not only shorten a link for me, it will keep a history of all the links I’ve shortened (provided I’m logged in to my bit.ly account), and give me statistics on those links as well- how many people clicked through, when they clicked, and from where. And to see all that, I need only add a plus sign (+) to my bit.ly shortened URL, for example, this link points to a previous post on BusinessLogs: [Read more…] about Blog Tool in Focus: bit.ly