Bit.ly: URL shortener with built-in tracking

URL-shortening services are plentiful these days, but they're not all equal. There are a few key features we're looking for in our ideal URL-shrinker. We want a bookmarklet, to avoid needless copy-pasting. We want a short base URL for easy Twittering. There's also the ability to custom-name your URLs, so you can tell them apart and they make sense to the people you're sending to. Bit.ly has all of this and more.

Bookmarklet? Check. Short base URL? Check. The only shorter one we've seen is is.gd. Custom naming? Sure thing. But the real kicker is Bit.ly's unique feature: it tracks how many clicks your link gets, and shows you the referrers those clicks are coming from. If someone else has made a different Bit.ly address for that same URL, you can see that, too. Don't be surprised if you see more and more Bit.ly links popping up soon, it might be the best out there right now.

Tags: Bit.ly, link sharing, LinkSharing, TinyURL, URL shortener, UrlShortener