Short URL’s are helpful when a user is limited to a certain number of
characters, such as on Twitter. When using most Twitter applications,
whenever a long URL is entered in a tweet, it is automatically
shortened, using a shortening service like bit.ly.
These shortening services usually take advantage of recently released
TLD’s to get a domain name as short as possible. Recently, Google
jumped on the bandwagon with goo.gl, another URL shortening service.
YouTube also recently launched their youtu.be service, specifically for
linking to YouTube videos. A URL such as
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdeioVndUhs can now be shortened to
http://youtu.be/FdeioVndUhs. Using the shortened URL will automatically
redirect you to the video URL. These shortened links are automatically
used when using YouTube’s AutoShare feature, which automatically shares
videos you favorite, to your Twitter or Facebook account.
Facebook has also recently registered the domain Fb.me, which will
redirect to facebook.com. You can use it to shorten any URL on
Facebook. So facebook.com/someprofile becomes fb.me/someprofile.
There are a few other reasons why one may use a URL shortening service.
One is to hide the true destination URL. For this reason, they are
often used in spam e-mails to link to e-commerce, adult, or other
websites you probably wouldn’t visit if knew the destination.
A company or website owner may also buy domains under new TLD’s for
brand protection or as a “shortcut URL”. For example, Add.me was
recently registered, which redirects to AddMe.com.
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