URL Shortening

You may have seen more and more that references to web pages are using short URLs (e.g. like http://bit.ly/bb-shorturls and  http://goo.gl/p4Tk - both point to this post). These are produced by a number of services (Bit.ly, goo.gl, tinyURL for example) to crunch a long web address into a short one for ease of use. It is particularly handy when using Twitter so that you don’t use up most of your 140 characters with a long URL. Google provide a URL shortening service but only through their APIs (feedburner, Google Toolbar and plugins for Chrome etc). Bit.ly have a nice analytical system that enables you to monitor the click throughs of your shortened URLs. They also allow you to use aliases to give your short URL a real word (e.g. http://bit.ly/bb-shorturls).

As with any links you should be aware that phising and scam sites increasingly use shorturls to hide their activities. You should be cautious when clicking through to a short url from someone you don’t know. Bit.ly and TinyURL both offer preview systems to let you see the destination before you go there (as extensions to Chrome and Firefox).

Tags: security, Services, short urls