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What are some of the benefits of using URL shorteners? Probably the main benefit is the fact that a short URL is easier for copying into an email, a forum post, or a post on Twitter, where the poster is limited by 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 possible to make room for their introductory words.

Another advantage of using URL shortening services is to create URLs that may be read aloud, so that people will be able to spell them out. The URL shortening sites create nice, human-readable URLs, however have a tendency to create longer URLs for readable purposes than once 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 very first "breakout" shortening service was Tiny URL, which launched in 2002. Today, you'll find over 100 shortener sites.

Making a URL shorter requires using http redirection to make use of a short domain linked to the web site 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 known as a hash function, and some shorteners use random number generators to create key sequences.

You will also see that URL shortening services have evolved a whole lot in the past 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 such as how many clicks you've got received.

Another benefit of these services is that you will start to discover some of them offer you to earn extra money by using your short urls on other websites. When folks click on your short URL on twitter or any other social sites they are going to go to your URL but will likely have an advertisement and you also can 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. By way of 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 doesn't accept some shortened links.

In the event you plan to make use of a short URL service, you would be wise to always preview the shortened address before posting it. There have been 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's always a great idea to test out any short URLs you generate using a shortening site before posting them to make certain they go the place you want them to.

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