With the expanding space of social media tools, websites and the Internet, URLs can become a mouthful with an array of odd numerical and letter combinations. To the rescue we have URL shortening services, which were initially popular because web addresses started to get long and links would break when sent in an email. However, as microblogging services like Twitter have become popular, an increasing number of services and applications, including tracking & metrics, have been added to the basic URL shortening features. There are a few dozen services out there, of course, but I narrowed it down and picked the top three that I liked.

Zi.ma offers bulk URL shortening, customizable URLs and tracking. Also, registration is not required to view statistics of Zi.ma links.



Cligs also offers tracking, which are real time and very detailed, however unlike Zi.ma you have to register to utilize those tools. They also offer geotarget URLs based on the country of visitor.

Tiny URL is utilized by Twitter and the links you create never expire. You can customize your URL, however they don't offer tracking. They also offer a toolbar button that can be integrated into your browser. It was created by Kevin Gilbertson who launched the service in January 2002 because he wanted to be able to link directly to newsgroup postings which frequently had long and cumbersome addresses.

1 Comment

1. Anonymous on January 26, 2009 at 1:48 PM

   Your blog puts mine to shame... great job! Looks fantastic and the content is really interesting too!