Cnet News: URL-shortening services are abundant and becoming more
so. They’re usually designed with a priority on minimum character
length, not easy reading: Is.gd, Bit.ly, Twurl.nl, Tr.im, Sn.im”, Cligs,
and TinyURL.
So what’s new now? First, Twitter, and second, shortening URLs is
becoming an actual business–notably at present through the addition of
"analytics” features that can let those who use the service see data
about how many people clicked on links, when, where they’re located, and
the Web page where they found the shortened link.
One of the problems with short URLs is knowing what you’re getting into
when you click them. Is that link really the fun video of the guy
tripping into the lake, or is it site that will spam you or attempt to
install malware? Is it really a warning from your bank about a bad
transaction, or is it a phishing attack to try to fool you into parting
with your password?
Clicking many regular URLs involves a leap of faith, to be sure, but not
being able to see a "youtube.com” or "bankofamerica.com” name because
it’s masked by a short URL makes that leap even longer.
Read here for more of cnet’s insightful article on the URL shortening trend.
