back to article Google punts url shortener to world+dog

Google is now offering its url shortener to world+dog. Dubbed Goo.gl, the service was previously available only with certain other Google services, including the Google browser toolbar, FeedBurner RSS service, News, Blogger, and Maps. But it now has its own website – http://goo.gl/ – where it can be used all by itself. Google …

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  1. Parax
    Thumb Up

    Now Integrate it!

    Now Google need to start using it in thier own products! When you want a link to google maps or streetview, at present you get a monster URL. I am looking forward to getting a short goo.gl instead!

    Maybe for security, google products could use tagged links. so you know what it is before you click it, perhaps:

    map.goo.gl/12345ABC - for google maps links

    doc.goo.gl/12345ABC - for google docs links

    1. Robert Norton
      Thumb Up

      My google maps...

      My google maps already shortens URL's for me .. http://goo.gl/maps/WLYR

      See? :)

  2. Count Ludwig
    Go

    Comparison with TinyURL.com

    Just tried goo.gl -

    Great that you can see your other shortened URLs (I keep forgetting my TinyURLs)

    But TinyURL let's you choose your own mnemonic (if it's not already used) - can you do same please goo.gl?

  3. Youngdog
    Joke

    Read more about it here

    http://tinyurl.com/2b857bl

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "We also wanted a shortener that we knew would ...

    give us even more information about what people get up to online."

  5. Gordon Pryra
    Badgers

    Lets give it a go!!

    goo.gl/Chy6

    Fun, what surprised me was the fact I've been using this service for weeks now. And I've got a list of all the shortened URLs to prove it.

    Is this service being used by other services and repackaged? Some twitter apps maybe?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    But why?

    I prefer to know where I'm going to end up when I click on a link. I had a few spam emails recently that had a shortened url that pointed to another shortened url in order to obfuscate the final destination.

    What is the problem short urls are trying to solve?

    I know email systems used to break wrapped urls, but are there any that still do?

    Is it just that a shortened url is easier to remember to find a deep link somewhere? But most links are cut and pasted around. I don't think anyone has ever told me a short url so I could type it in myself.

    Or is it just that it hides the destination and allows link tracking?

    To find out the destination of a short url, this is your friend - http://www.unshorten.com/

    If there isn't one already, a firefox plugin that does the lookup when hovering over a short link and pops up the destination would be a nice idea.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I read various magazines that point to deep-linked web content for further reading

      shorteners save no end of frustration and hassle

      1. Tom_B
        Thumb Down

        For print...

        QR codes are the solution.

        I hate shortened URLs. They offer nothing to the end user other than ambiguity about the content they're going to get.

        I suppose they're useful on twitter due to the arbitrary character limit. However, this is bug in twitter and should be fixed their end rather than a something which should be activley worked around.

        1. Pandy06269

          Bug in Twitter?

          You're not a Twitter user, are you Tom_B?

          "...due to the arbitrary character limit. However, this is bug in twitter..."

          It's not a bug in Twitter - it's the whole point of the service. The guys who started Twitter used it as a replacement for the "I'm away from my desk" statuses you put on messengers like MSN.

          It's now used as "how much can you say about where you are, what you're doing and how you're feeling in 140 characters?"

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What is the problem short urls are trying to solve?

      This:

      http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&layer=c&cbll=51.510522,-0.137416&panoid=n7SbwO0QZb59vw-3XzpLCQ&cbp=12,163.5,,0,10.92&ll=51.511766,-0.137925&spn=0,0.003422&z=19

    3. Jason Togneri
      Boffin

      @ But why?

      "To find out the destination of a short url"

      But it's already built in to TinyURL's functionality. Instead of http://tinyurl.com/blah, you go to http://preview.tinyurl.com/blah. Plus, you can set a custom short URL (such as http://tinyurl.com/blah rather than the hard-to-remember http://tinyurl.com/jk8fb2k9), as pointed out previously. Google really do need to match up to this level of service if they wish existing URL-shorteners to switch over. Oh and yes, people do pass around short URLs by mouth sometimes. Or scrawl them on a piece of paper at a party or other computerless meeting. Welcome to the Real World where not everybody is a tech-savvy nerd and where people actually meet others face-to-face, rather than Facebook-to-Facebook.

      http://

    4. D@v3

      becasue

      its nice not to have an email with half a page of link to a page.

      Granted this doesn't happen often, as most links (to web pages) are quite short anyway even if there is a bit of /tothepage/that/youreally/want going on.

      However, if you are trying to email or IM a link to someone for directions on Google maps the links are (were) huge (and no joke) and look hideous(and dont really mean anything).

      There may not be much *point* to this URL shortening business, especially if the original URl is actually descriptive (www.page.com/sub/ etc..), but it can make some monstrous links, a little less so.

  7. ColonelClaw
    Happy

    It works!

    ...well, sort of

    goo.gl/pWvA

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    The best URL shorteners are these two

    http://stnx.at - It raises funds for Station X (Bletchley Park).

    http://arseh.at - just for the lulz.

  9. takuhii
    Thumb Down

    WTF?!

    So just like Bit.ly then??

  10. xperroni
    Stop

    Cute, but so far no TinyURL killer

    At least, not until they add the ability to provide custom id's, as TinyURL allows. Also it would be nice, since shorteners are bound to user accounts, if I could edit and/or delete them (God knows how many dead links I've left in TinyURL over these years).

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