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Google Unveils goo.gl URL Shortening Service

Posted by timothy on from the boiling-a-frog-in-google dept.

eldavojohn writes "The Sultan of Search is unveiling a new service (currently only available for Google Toolbar and Feedburner) that will tackle a very old problem usually solved by bit.ly or tinyurl — URL shortening. Now, we've heard cries for sanity to prevent potential issues (like what if tr.im had shut down and broken millions of links?) but with one of the goliaths of the industry jumping in the ring it looks like URL shortening is here to stay. And a quick note for people who enjoy privacy, goo.gl explicitly states: 'Please note that Google may choose to publicly display aggregate and non-personally identifiable statistics about particular shortened links, such as the number of end user clicks.' You didn't think Google was going to sit back and let bit.ly harvest juicy data on 2.1 billion links that were clicked in November without trying to corner some of that action to make their ad suggestions more accurate, did you?" Google's shortening service is called Goo.gl.

26 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Other services work fine by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I, for one, will be avoiding this. Existing services work fine and this is one more way Google is headed towards info omniscience.

    1. Re:Other services work fine by Bottles · · Score: 5, Funny

      i 4 1 wl b avoiding ths. XStng sRvcs wRk fine & this is 1 mr way goo.gl headed 2wrds Nfo omnisns

      There! Shortened that for you!

    2. Re:Other services work fine by omarius · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Coozy Pumpkins" sounds a hell of a lot worse to me... If that's a euphemism for anything I don't want to know.

    3. Re:Other services work fine by Starayo · · Score: 3, Funny

      One of my own sites came up as "tinywiddlebums". I think I'll use a URL shortener that won't get me arrested.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
  2. You guys missed one tiny, important detail... by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Google URL Shortener is currently available for Google products and not for broader consumer use."

    1. Re:You guys missed one tiny, important detail... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      "Google URL Shortener is currently available for Google products and not for broader consumer use."

      That would be in the first sentence of the summary (don't worry, it's only natural not to RTFS):

      (currently only available for Google Toolbar and Feedburner)

    2. Re:You guys missed one tiny, important detail... by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      See? I can also miss one tiny, important detail!

      Oh crap, I hope I don't start writing for Slashdot...

    3. Re:You guys missed one tiny, important detail... by smallfries · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hang on. He only proved that he can't read, we need proof that he can't write either before Slashdot hires him..

      --
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  3. Why? by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Aside from twitter and SMS which both have self-imposed limits, what's the point of these things?!

    1. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Here's your answer: http://bit.ly/4kb77v

    2. Re:Why? by Tim+C · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They're a lot easier to read out over the phone, for one - especially if you're deep linking into a site. Seen the URL that points to this article, for instance?

      --
      It's official. Most of you are morons.
    3. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Rick rolling is nothing compared to that time someone posted a url to the FBI site on Slashdot.

      Url had a GET message confessing to having a hard drive full of CP, and it got modded +5 funny.

    4. Re:Why? by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How else are you going to send people to goatse or a rickroll?

  4. Nope, still too long. by VortexCortex · · Score: 4, Funny

    I, for one, will not be satisfied until my URLs are compressed as a super positions of themselves and stored in qubits.

    Perhaps Google can use one of their quantum computers to appease me.

    1. Re:Nope, still too long. by Yvan256 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Using that new service will require a quantum leap of faith.

  5. Decenturl still rocks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    People are obsessed with shortening as much as possible, but I like meaningful URLs that tell me about the contents that's linked to.

    http://decenturl.com/ does the job perfectly: http://search.slashdot.decenturl.com/google-url-shortening-service

  6. Best viewed through Google Goggles by Zarf · · Score: 3, Funny

    This seemed utterly rubbish to me until I put on my Google Goggles. Now everything looks awesome.

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    [signature]
  7. Re:Is this really a problem? by unity · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, I can't remember the last time I clicked on one of those "shortened" urls. I just skip over them. I prefer to know where I'm going.

  8. Re:Is this really a problem? by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Long links in twitter messages significantly reduce the amount of available characters.

    Google is really going to look foolish when my new, extensible length twitter service comes out. This new service will allow arbitrary length messages and thus totally eliminate the need to link shortening.

    Although I haven't yet named my new service, I am leaning towards calling it "eMail", but I need to check if that name has already been taken.

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    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  9. Re:Where there go my business plans by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well you could always start a Nigerian company called bi.ng ?

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  10. Google Gibraltar by Ruvim · · Score: 4, Funny

    So, that's how Google Gibraltar looks like... It's funny how the official meaning of TLD is always totally ignored. Case in point: as many others, White House uses bit.ly for its URL shortening on White House Tweeter posts... never mind that .ly TLD is assigned to Libya.

  11. Re:Wouldn't be necessary if... by marcansoft · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's not just for SEO purposes. Stuffing the article title into the URL is also informative for those who read the URL. Of course, that belongs inside the tag linking to it, but few formats (besides plain HTML) support anchor text that differs from the link (especially all the text-based mediums that have had hyperlinking shoehorned in by using automatic linkification).

  12. Re:Wouldn't be necessary if... by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Long URLs also (should) let us know what's behind a link before we actually click on it.

    www.apple.com/ipod/
    www.microsoft.com/office/
    www.nintendo.com/wii/
    and so on...

    If you have garbage such as "&id=54353" in your non-search URLs, you're doing it wrong.

  13. Re:Google Gibraltar by Tacvek · · Score: 3, Informative

    I hope you mean What Goo Greenland looks like.
    Google Gibraltar would be google.gi

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  14. Re:They do? by petermgreen · · Score: 4, Informative

    Quite how popping up a page stating the service was busy is any easier than just issuing a redirect to the required site I don't really know
    Issuing a redirect to the right place requires access to the database, issueing an error message does not.

    P.S. if you are running a website please help reduce the need for url shorteners by using sensible urls.

    --
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  15. Re:Is this really a problem? by MikeBabcock · · Score: 3, Informative

    You can also set a cookie at tinyurl.com that will remember you prefer to preview your URLs.

    --
    - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)