TinyURLis aURL shorteningweb service, which provides short aliases for redirection of longURLs.Kevin Gilbertson,aweb developer,launched the service in January 2002[1]as a way to post links innewsgrouppostings which frequently had long, cumbersome addresses. TinyURL was the first notable URL shortening service and is one of the oldest still currently operating.
 | |
Type of site | URL shortening |
|---|---|
| Owner | TinyURL LLC |
| Created by | Kevin Gilbertson |
| Revenue | Subscription,Advertising |
| URL | www |
| Registration | Yes |
| Launched | January 2002[1] |
| Current status | Active |
Service
editThe TinyURL homepage includes a form which is used to submit a long URL for shortening. For each URL entered, the server adds a new alias in itshasheddatabase and returns a short URL. According to the website, the shortened URLs will never expire.
TinyURL offers anAPIwhich allows applications to automatically create short URLs.[2]
Short URL aliases are seen as useful because they are easier to write down, remember or distribute. They also fit in text boxes with a limited number of characters allowed. Some examples of limited text boxes areIRC channeltopics, email signatures,microblogs(such asTwitter,which notably limited all posts to 140 characters at first, and later 280 characters), certain printed newspapers (such as.netmagazineor evenNature), andemail clientsthat imposeline breakson messages at a certain length.
Starting in 2008, TinyURL allowed users to create custom, more meaningful aliases. This means that a user can create descriptive URLs rather than a randomly generated address. For example,https://tinyurl /wp-tinyurlleads to the Wikipedia article about the website.
Preview short URLs
editTo preview the full URL from the short TinyURL, the user can visit TinyURL first and enable previews as a default browser cookie setting or copy and paste the short URL into the browser address bar, and prepend the shorttinyurl /xwithpreview.tinyurl /x.Another preview feature is not well documented at the TinyURL site, but the alternative shortened URL with preview capability is also offered to shortcut creators as an option at the time of the creation of the link.[3]
Impact
editSimilar services
editThe popularity of TinyURLs influenced the creation of at least 100 similar websites.[4]Most are simply domain alternatives while some offer additional features.
X (formerly Twitter)
editPeople posting onX (formerly Twitter)often made extensive use of shortened URLs to keep theirtweetswithin the service-imposed 140-character limit. Twitter used TinyURL until 2009, before switching toBit.ly.[5]Currently, X uses its ownt.codomain for this purpose, automatically shortening links longer than 31 characters using itst.codomain.
TinyURL-whacking
editThe TinyURL method of allocating shorter web addresses has inspired an exploration activity known as TinyURL-whacking. Random letters and numbers can be appended after the first forward slashtinyurl /,in an attempt to find and reveal interesting sites without finding and copying a previously known referrer's link.[1][6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^abcKatie Dean (March 16, 2004)."Honey, I Shrunk the URL".Wired.Archivedfrom the original on December 21, 2016.RetrievedNovember 17,2016.
So the 24-year-old Web developer from Blaine, Minnesota, launched TinyURL in January 2002, a free site that converts huge strings of characters into more manageable snippets.
- ^"TinyURL Developer API Documentation".tinyurl.Retrieved2022-08-08.
- ^"How to Preview Shortened URLs (TinyURL, bit.ly, is.gd, and more)".2009-04-11.Archivedfrom the original on 2014-03-25.Retrieved2014-05-30.
- ^90+ URL Shortening ServicesArchived2008-08-30 at theWayback Machine,Mashable.Com,8 January 2008, page 84
- ^Weisenthal, Joe (May 6, 2009)."Twitter Switches from TinyURL to Bit.ly".Business Insider.Archivedfrom the original on March 8, 2013.RetrievedFebruary 15,2013.
- ^New Scientist,vol. 179, issue 2404, 19 July 2003, page 84