Following the announcement this weekend that Tr.im will shut down it’s URL shortening services, even with Bit.ly stepping in host Tr.im’s URL-mappings indefinitely, or 301works (an archive of URL mappings), there are long-term implications using URL shorteners.
According to TechCrunch, Tr.im accounted for approximately 2-3 percent of the short URLs on Twitter, with bit.ly, the default URL shortener adopted by Twitter with 79.6 percent. But what happens when URL shortening services, even with a small share of the market like Tr.im, just stop working? Thousands of links on the web simply stop working, sites lose inbound links, and traffic.
There are a number of new opinion articles addressing Tr.im and URL shortening services. What are the suggested soultions? (1) Stop counting URLs as part of the 140 character limit on Twitter, the driving force behind our need for URL shortners and (2) portability, less likely to happen. More on Tr.im and URL shortners:
- Tr.im: Tr.im R.I.P. release.
- Technologizer: Tr.impending Doom.
- Venture Beat: URL shortener Tr.im’s demise: Social web is house of cards.
- Scripting News: Enough with shortened URLs.
- Scobleizer: Twitter’s platform shortcomings.
- Paid Content: Tr.im Shuts Down; Is There A Business In URL Shortening?
- Information Week: Scoble, Twitter Isn’t At Your Beck And Call.
- Mashable: Tr.im URL Shortener Shuts Down; Short Links to Die?
- Fastcompany: Tr.im URL Clipped by Bit.ly, Plans to Shut.Down.
