URL Shortening with Bit.ly

URL shortening is a technique on the World Wide Web where a provider makes a web page available under a very short URL in addition to the original address.

Un-shortened URL is unpleasant, difficult to remember and copying this URL that is hundreds of characters is tedious.
If there is a space constraint, the likes in Twitter, Instant messaging services or Comments on Blogs, it becomes impossible to include long URLs. Hence URL Shortening services have been popular since their concept was released.

The first notable URL shortening service, TinyURL, was launched in 2002.
Then Bit.ly came by in July 2008. bit.ly allows users to shorten, share, and track links (URLs). Reducing the URL length makes sharing easier. bit.ly can be accessed through our website, book-marklets and a robust and open API.
bit.ly is also integrated into several popular third-party tools such as Tweetdeck. A fuller list of third party tools can be found on the bit.ly blog. Unique user-level and aggregate links are created, allowing users to view complete, real-time traffic and referrer data, as well as location and metadata.

#-Link-Snipped-#Tracking stats are available after users shorten their long links with bit.ly by clicking on the “Info+” link on bit.ly, or just adding a “+” sign to the end of any bit.ly link (for example, https://bit.ly/n0og+).

Some of the short-comings of using URL Shortening could be:
Short URLs add an additional layer of complexity, where for every access, more requests are necessary (at least one more DNS lookup and HTTP request).

A short URL obscures the target address, and as a result it's sometimes used to redirect to an unexpected site.
But, there are a lot of advantages of URL Shortening.

Bit.ly service comes in 3 different types.
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[*]bit.ly: The original service to shorten, share and track links
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[*]bit.ly Pro for Bloggers and Small Business: A free service to create your own short URL, to use in place of the “bit.ly” domain. Users get access to a basic dashboard that aggregates their click activity.
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[*]bit.ly Pro for Enterprise: It is a simple and objective way to measure the success of your social-media investment. Enterprise offers a variety of advanced features including granular analytics & end-to-end branding.
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To know more about bit.ly visit their site at: https://bit.ly/a/tour/