Lately, I’ve been using bit.ly for shortening the URLs I tweet, on the advice of Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb. I started using it instead of is.gd, which had been my previous favorite.
Why? Because bit.ly offers an array of useful data. Who knew that a simple URL shortener could open up so much interesting data? I can’t believe people still use tinyurl and other services that “only” shorten URLs. The tracking of metadata around a posted URL – for free – makes bit.ly really powerful.
Here’s what bit.ly was offering before the latest data features…
- Last 15 URLs: Bit.ly knows your last 15 shortened URLs, courtesy of a cookie.
- Post to Twitter: Post shortened URLs from bit.ly to your Twitter account
- Archived web page: Yup, see that page anytime because there’s a cached version of it, even if the source link changes or disappears.
- Traffic sources: See how much click action that bit.ly URL got once you put it out there. And from what apps.
- Conversations: Tracks which users on Twitter and FriendFeed put the URL out there. This is really cool, as you can see others who liked the same thing you did.
- Browser bookmarklet: Easy way to create a shortened URL, stay on the page you’re reading.
- Semantic metadata: According to Marshall’s July post, bit.ly was going to add semantic analysis via Reuter’s OpenCalais API. Looks like it’s there. Cool to see per link, probably more interesting with a critical mass of URLs.
On October 30, bit.ly announced several nice additions to their service.
- Full referring domains: Not just the top-level domain.
- Graph of click activity by time: The dates and times that a URL got clicked.
- Clicks by Country: The countries of people who click on your URL. This is really fascinating.
Seriously, if you’re not using bit.ly, why not?
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See this post on FriendFeed: http://friendfeed.com/search?q=%22Bit.ly+Gets+Better+with+New+Data%E2%80%A6Are+You+Using+It+Yet%3F%22&who=everyone
Thanks for the great post, and for using bit.ly! Thought I’d mention a few other features.
Users who create a bit.ly account can access their entire history. Anonymous users are limited to the last 15 items shortened.
When you shorten a URL as a signed in user, the short URL generated can be tracked separately. So, for example, if you shortened http://apple.com, you’d be able to see both the traffic for that specific user short URL, as well as the aggregate for everyone else who had also shortened http://apple.com.
Lots of great new features planned and in the works. http://blog.bit.ly/ for the latest!
Comment by Nathan — November 3, 2008 @ 10:46 am
Check out the info for this blog post http://bit.ly/info/1Iybzu
Comment by klecu — November 3, 2008 @ 11:17 am
[...] Bit.ly: More Than Just a URL Shortener [...]
Pingback by Why Bit.ly is my Favorite URL Shorterner | dmiessler.com — November 4, 2008 @ 6:01 am
It sure is a nifty little thing. I’m shifting from tinyurl to this. Thanks for pointing it out.
Comment by Sachendra Yadav — November 4, 2008 @ 6:43 am
URLBarExt makes it easy to get bitlies for everything. woo hoo!
Comment by Marshall Kirkpatrick — November 5, 2008 @ 11:53 pm
[...] 140 character limit, typical article URLs are too lengthy for a tweet. Use a URL shortener, like bit.ly. And if you have a pithy thought on the article, tack it on at the end of the [...]
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