The Swamp Gas & Moonlit Reflections URL Shortener
I decided that due the volatility of the Internet and the coming and going of various web sites to build my own URL shortening program. I purchaed the domain name, sgmr.us, and set it up using Google's YOURLS (Your Own URL Shortener) code. This ensures a few things.
- These shortened links will not break. In other words, the link that I target will go away before my shortened link does.
- Because I am the only one with access to this program, the links that I provide are 99.9% guaranteed safe. I cannot say 100% because things can happen.
- I will be using these links on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and anywhere else that I post links.
- UPDATE: The new Squarespace interface has its own syndication so links will now be direct to the site. This means that I am no longer using bit.ly links.
Why did I do it? Because I felt like it and I did want to have an environmet that I can control. The problem with URL shorteners is that it's difficult to see where a shortened link is leading. I have no problem with bit.ly, goo.gl, is.gd, t.co and the others, but I wanted my own. I may open it up to friends down the road, but for now, I am still testing it out.
Added 8/11/12
One thing occurred to me and I want to clear it up. Yes, I have statistics on how many clicks each shortened link receives and from which site (Google+, Facebook, Twitter, aliencg.com, etc.). I do not, however, know who clicked which link. In the grand scheme, that information would just be noise and clutter up the more important information.