TinyURL

What do you like best?

It does exactly what it says. These days, so many URL's are three or four lines long which is not only unattractive and unwieldy; but also discourages people from using the link. One click of the TinyURL button and a complex 4 or 5 line url, can easily be transformed into a neat and manageable URL which appears more inviting and more managable if sharing with others. I also like the way you are able to customise your own shortened URL's making the address even more easy to remember - especially helpful when sharing a link verbally. Users need very little guidance, resources or set-up time to begin using this link shortening tool.

What do you dislike?

Very little. Just occasionally, I have known some company email protocols reject emails containing shortened URL's just in case they are hiding something behind it. However, this has probably happened twice when sending tens of thousands of emails over a ten year period. The user interface is also a little dated now, however this doesn't detract from the ease of use.

Recommendations to others considering the product:

A simple and reliable solution in an increasingly complex world which shrinks the length of a URL

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

We create regular blog pages, which provide updated content on our website, these are archived on a particular section of the website - requiring visitors to click through 3 different sections. If we share the full links, they appear lengthy and ungainly and we've found attract a fewer number of readers. By shortening the URL and naming it something more memorable, we have dramatically increased traffic. Additionally, as a training provider, we like to signpost learners to a number of reference sources and follow-up resources; handouts with long hard to decipher URL's will never be actioned, but a short list containing a handful of customized TinyURLs are always well received by delegates.