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Google URL shortener available to the public

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Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#81

Post by bigfudge »

drv wrote: post #30
jberryman wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i agree with you, but how many of those unshortened links do you think will exist 10 years from now? i think the web is like a brain in which memory is active, not static. it`s just a bit too young for that to be obvious.

At least the unshortened links have a chance of being scraped by things like archive.org; I wonder if it scrapes anything meaningful from the popular URL shorteners.

Actually, scraping only links from shorteners would be a a good strategy form preserving what is worth preserving.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#82

Post by pwim »

jbarham wrote: post #31
DannoHung wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The QR code capacity is pretty flippin sweet. That's worth using all on its own.

If you just need a QR code just generate it directly and skip the shortener using e.g. http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ . You can also generate QR codes using the Google Charts API.

When generating a QR code, it's important to keep the URL short, as the size of the QR is proportional to the length of the URL.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#83

Post by huhtenberg »

jpablo wrote: post #9

Why do we need url shorteners again ? When I see a shortened URL the probabilities of me clicking the link go down to almost zero.

Not sure about we, but Google needs a shortener, because it's a great source of a web activity information. Compliments the data they collect through urchin.js and the ad network. Makes them track and profile you better.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#85

Post by Matt_Cutts »

mrduncan wrote: post #15
jnoller wrote: post #7

Ugh. Google entering this pretty much wipes out the space - companies like bit.ly are going to need to work on seriously differentiating themselves from the pack, and even then I don't think they're long for the world. I can honestly say I hope to never be in a market - or working on a product - where google suddenly decides to enter the game. Even if their offering sucks, or is broken, it sucks all the air out of th…

I rarely use shorteners, so excuse my ignorance here, but what does Google offer here that bit.ly doesn't? Why would I switch to Google after using bit.ly for a long time?

One nice thing is that goo.gl is pretty fast. See the link at http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/17/url-shorteners-speed/ for a graph from a few months ago, for example. We're also shooting for great uptime and we have a bunch of malware checks when shortening urls.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#87

Post by tonfa »

werftgh wrote: post #80
Matt_Cutts wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we couldn't. Unfortunately, Greenland doesn't sell X.gl or XX.gl domains. So goo.gl was the shortest we could get.

Greenland's GDP is You could turn the entire country into a passively cooled data center!

I thought Greenland had some kind of relationship with Denmark.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#88

Post by empika »

Its obvious that we need shorteners, the original purpose being email but Twitter bucked that trend. So now, what we dont need is more URL shorteners. What we do need is more sites to implement their own shortening like YouTube and Flickr (eg, http://youtu.be/3jDfSqtG2E4 and http://flic.kr/p/MGuRJ). Its all about the rev canonical. This way, a shortened URL will stay about as long as that site is about and the internets doesn't break.

People seem to want click stats though, although i dont see why you cant get these out of google analytics etc.

Check out http://revcanonical.appspot.com/ for more.

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#89

Post by werftgh »

tonfa wrote: post #87
werftgh wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Greenland's GDP is You could turn the entire country into a passively cooled data center!

I thought Greenland had some kind of relationship with Denmark.

I think they are now "seeing other people" after Denmark made some comment about expanding glaciers that Greenland took personally !

Re: Google URL shortener available to the public

#90

Post by blantonl »

stevefink wrote: post #11
jpablo wrote: post #9

Why do we need url shorteners again ? When I see a shortened URL the probabilities of me clicking the link go down to almost zero.

We don't need them. Companies that create the shorteners need them to collect information about who clicks on your links. That, and there's a service out there that limits updates to 140 characters.

We do need them. While twitter pretty much spawned the whole ecosystem, there still is a very important and functional use for URL shorteners.

The biggest, outside of twitter, has to be the method of emailing enormous html links to someone. With so many email clients out there, it is a crap shoot to send a link. Personally and professionally bit.ly has really helped out in those cases.

With that in mind, I wonder what impact this announcement has on bit.ly and the other players. Does google provide analytics on their shortened links? What is the value be between the different shorteners now that Google has an offering.

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