What are some of the benefits of using URL shorteners? Perhaps the main benefit is the fact that a short URL is easier for copying into an e-mail, a forum post, or a post on Twitter, where the poster is limited to 140 characters for the entire post. Particularly if you want a Twitter post to be passed along by others, you want the address to be as brief as it can be to make room for their introductory words.

Another benefit of using URL shortening services is to produce URLs that may be read aloud, to ensure that people will likely spell them out. The URL shortening sites create nice, human-readable URLs, however have a tendency to create longer URLs for readable purposes than when they are strictly shortening an address to minimize the range of characters it contains.

The concept of shortening long URLs goes back to at least the year 2001. The first “breakout” shortening service was Tiny URL, which launched in 2002. Today, there are over 100 shortener sites.

Making a URL shorter requires using http redirection to utilize a short domain linked to the website with the longer address. Techniques for doing this include generating keys in the numerical base 36, which assumes 26 letters and 10 digits, or base 62, that features 10 digits, upper case and lower case letters. Another technique uses what is described as a hash function, and some shorteners use random number generators to produce key sequences.

Additionally, you will find that URL shortening services have evolved a whole lot throughout the years which add many additional features to make using url shorteners even better. One nice function is when you shorten the link a URL you will be able to keep track of that URL and check statistics on it for example how many clicks you have received.

Another benefit of these services is the fact that you will begin to seek out a number of them offer you to earn extra money by utilizing your short urls on other web sites. When individuals click on your short URL on twitter or other social sites they’re going to go to your URL but will likely have an advertisement and you can also earn income throughout the URL shortening service.

Users of shortening services should be aware that some services and their products are blocked in some places. For example, Saudi Arabia blocks some link shortening services, as does the social site MySpace. Panera Bread locations block URL-shortening access in its free WiFi networks, and Craigslist does not accept some shortened links.

If you intend to employ a short URL service, you would be wise to always preview the shortened address before posting it. There happen to be instances of services being hacked and redirecting users in unexpected ways.

For the casual poster on sites like Twitter and Facebook, short addresses are very handy for keeping your posts brief. But it is always a good idea to test out any short URLs you generate using a shortening site before posting them to ensure they go the place you want them to.