Google and Facebook are each set to embark into new territory on Monday with the launch of a new URL-shortening service, a tool that changes a long net address in to a much shorter string of random characters like Goo.gl, probably shaking up the sector and putting strain on established players such as Bit.ly and TinyURL.com.
Aside from some now available high-profile shortener like TinyURL and Bit.ly, Google's new URL shortener, goo.gl isn't an all-purpose link reducer that users can access by going straight to a standalone site. The roll-out seems to be focused at increasing user engagement with services like Twitter, which relies on short 140-character messages. Google's offering showcased this week is a component of a reconditioned Google's browser toolbar and its Feedburner RSS service, which is intended to make it simpler for users to post comments to diverse social networks, but the service isn't yet available as a stand-alone for wider client use. URL shortener have reasonably climbed in appreciation over the last eighteen months, with an augmenting number of web users using services like TinyURL and bit.ly to condense links in order that they can be shared easier on social marketing websites like Twitter, which imposes a restriction on the quantity of characters that may be contained inside a single message. Google's shortening service will immediately apply to links that are pasted into the new share feature on the Google Toolbar.
The share button permits users to right away post or e-mail comments to services like Blogger, Tasty , Digg, Facebook, Twitter or Gmail. Goo.gl isn't an independent shortening tool, but Google claims if the service proves helpful, we may finally make it available for a wider audience in the future.
The search giant claims its entrance into the URL shortening market is important as its service is stable, trustworthy, fast and will apply the same standard of evil content detection as Google's normal web searches. Jenna Wortham of The Times has commented on the new Goo.gl service a direct attack on Bit.ly -- the preferred URL shortener developed by Betaworks Studio that has turned into a standard on sites like Twitter. Straight after Google's statement on Monday, Bit.ly disclosed that it might begin making custom URLs for a number of major web sites and publishers, including The Times (at nyti.ms), The WSJ, The Onion and even Microsoft's search site Bing. Also, Facebook's shortener, fb.me, is mostly built to inspire users to share info with the wider social web as well as use on mobile device, and it is misleading whether fb.me will be rolled out across the entire platform.
In the opinion of some industry researchers, who have warned the sheer volume of short links that would be generated by Facebook's and Google's URL shortener could overpower the quantity of bit.ly links circulating on the web.
