Twitter Takes Link Shortening Into It’s Own Hands

Shortened URL’s totally drive me nuts.  Some people open each of them like a Christmas gift, not having a clue what’s in them but dying to find out.  For me, it’s more like lifting a box in the back of my garage and hoping there isn’t something living underneath it. Ambiguous shortened links are all over Twitter and they often turn out to be malware, phishing attacks, or just a crummy sales pitch.

Twitter is changing the game, and they’re taking control of shortened URLs.

They are doing this in a few big ways. All links will be auto-wrapped with t.co (a twitter domain).  But this doesn’t mean every link will end in t.co.  On Twitter.com you’ll most likely see part of the original link, the page title or the entire link if there is room. However, in a text message you may actually see t.co since there is an sms character limit.

Example: http://www.reallylongname.com/superlongdirectory/crazylongpagename.html will appear as reallylongname.html or reallylongname.com.

Twitter also changed the character limit to 140-characters after link wrapping.  This means if your update is too long with an included link, Twitter will wrap the link up to fit the 140-character limit (in most cases).

In the end this does a few important things. It protects you from malicious links that are potentially harmful, and it also puts an end to the obscure links you’re tired of.  All in all it allows you to browse Twitter and know what people are actually linking to, greatly enhancing your experience.

I’m a fan of this change, are you?  Do you see a way this could play for or against you?