Shortening is for Baking
David Weiss (The Security Implications of URL Shortening Services) and Joshua Schachter (on url shorteners) both wrote about URL shortening services recently, focusing mostly on security. I began drafting this post a while ago because of the negative impacts of such services on link usability.
- Shortened links remove valuable information from the address string. Maybe I can recognize the URL as being an article I’ve already read. Maybe it’s posted on a site I know to be worthless to me.
- Shortened links are hard to relocate. How do I find that link that was sent via e-mail once the page has been purged from my browser history? Of course, type “shrtng.com” in the search field of your e-mail app and then comb through the messages containing crapified URLs!
How about fixing the problem of needless character limitations instead of providing a crutch? I’ve heard the “it is a constraint that inspires creativity” line to defend the limitation. Bullshit. If you want to write succinctly, being able to write a lot does not stop you from doing so. The inverse is not true.
Given the discomfort of typing on any phone keyboard for an extended period and the burst usage patterns of mobile devices, I really don’t think there is a significant risk that removing the SMS character limit will result in people writing and sending novels via text message, thereby gobbling up carrier bandwidth and bringing down networks worldwide.
I think the lack of smart semantic URLs is another reason for shortening services. When links hit three or more lines, frankly shortening for use inline is just people trying to keep the focus on their message and not on an out-of-control link.
Fair point. My operating assumption is that people have set up their CMS such that it doesn’t spew mile-long URLs full of cryptic characters.
The reason why mobile service operators won’t ever lift the slim character limit on an SMS is that it would cost them money, as opposed to the current situation where the text messages are sent along with network status handshake packets that are continuously sent anyway. This is where the limit of 160 characters comes from, to fit in the rather small control packets, and this is also why SMS is a zero cost for the operators.