Why would anyone want to shorten a URL for hyperlinks when it’s so easy to copy and paste URLs into online documents and fields? Think of short URLs as an alias or nickname for a longer URL. Both URLs go to the same website with the same speed, but one requires fewer characters, so typing or copy/paste requires less effort. Short URLs are useful for updates on social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, where users are given a small number of characters to provide updates about what they are doing or are interested in. Most short URL tools are free and only require an account to get additional data. Short URLs can be used to promote a blog, submit interesting articles online, and provide easy access to photos or videos on any website.

bit.ly is one of the most well-known URL shortening tools, as it’s what Twitter originally used to automatically shorten long hyperlinks and is the type of link created by “Add This” social buttons on blogs and article sites. Although Twitter no longer automatically shortens links for users, bit-ly is still popular because it allows you to track statistics on the use of short links. Regardless of which social media tool the link is used on, it will return the number of clicks for the link and display it on the computer where the link was originally made for a short time on a user without an account. Users who have set up an account can get a longer period of history and view reports from any computer by logging into their account. To make a short link, simply enter the longest URL in the marked field and click the Shorten button. After the new link is displayed, tap on it and a copy to clipboard feature will appear to save a copy that will be pasted into the text fields of the social network. For more information, a tour feature is available at the bottom of the bit.ly home page. The tour is a series of pages of information about features for shortening, sharing, tracking, and managing links, as well as advanced tools. All travel options display related screenshots.

es.gd It’s good because it has a quick link compression tool without many other options on the home page that can confuse new users. However, one cool feature of this short url service is the ability to copy your links and then put a hyphen (-) at the end of your short url to preview information on the linked web page before clicking to go. to that site. This can prevent you from visiting sites that automatically launch code, audio, or video on a site you don’t want. The is.gd description page also offers a good list of options to consider for using short URLs. Go to the instructions page to find out how to use this tool on different platforms or the technical page for API details.

tinyURL.com is another popular URL shortening tool used by many social networks, although it refers to itself as an email tool. It allows the creation of custom URLs as well as random links without an account. Currently it does not provide any kind of statistics on the use of URLs, but check out the options it offers on the home page.

urlfy is a popular URL shortener tool used in Tweets. Just enter the long URL in the field and click Shorten. The short link will appear to copy/paste into Tweets. If you want a custom short URL, click the Custom URL option to create it. The home page also displays the main social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter. Using this tool to display the links most visited by the user can reduce search time. Additional information about this service can be found on its home page.

Other applications to facilitate the use of the Internet or social networks may include a user-configured or automatically created URL shortening utility. Some to check out include HooteSuite (ow.ly) and StumbleUpon (su.pr). Most will have the utility on the home page for registered accounts. Otherwise, check the Help, FAQ, or About option in the app to see if it includes this utility or recommends another tool.

It’s very likely that everyone on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter saw short URLs in received updates and clicked on the link because it came from a trusted source. Check out the shortened URL option that sounds best for networking or other linking needs and start using shorter URLs too! It can make socializing over the web much easier.