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Twitter Killing Off URL-Shortening Industry

by Terrence O'Brien on April 15, 2010 at 04:35 PM

Twitter Killing Off URL Shortening Industry
The URL shortener market, which is undeniably overcrowded, is about to get a lot smaller. Yesterday, Evan Williams mentioned Twitter would be launching a dedicated URL-shortening service during a Q&A at the Chrip developer conference, effectively murdering an entire industry in cold blood. While URL shorteners have found some use outside of the popular micro-blogging service, it's clear that Twitter is their raison d'etre.

Few details are known about the company's plans -- only that there will be no other Twitter-approved options for Tweeters to use on the official site and mobile apps. Regarding URL-shorteners on official mobile applications, Williams said, "If they want to use a different shortener, they can just use a different app." The company could purchase or form a partnership with a service like Bit.ly, or simply expand its in-house service -- twt.tl. Other services, such as is.gd and TinyURL, are probably placing their office furniture on eBay right now. [From: TheNextWeb]

Tags: bit.ly, business, chirp, developer conference, DeveloperConference, socialnetworking, tinyurl, top, twitter, URL shortener, UrlShortener, web

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