Google Introduces URL Shortening Service

It appears that the might Google just would not stop venturing into more markets.  After its Google Phone has been announced for release in 2010, the search engine giant recently introduces its very own URL shortening service aptly named the Google URL Shortener (http://goo.gl/). 

URL shorteners such as tinyURL, bit.ly, tr.im among others, become godsend for many netizens, especially when it comes to sharing long links that would appear garbled in online forums or take up too much space in microblogging sites such as Twitter.

However, unlike most such services, links shortened on goo.gl are automatically checked to detect whether users are being redirected to a malicious website.  It is unclear, however, whether Google would block users from visiting such websites or simply warn them about it.  Google’s scalable, multi-datacenter infrastructure assures users that it would not bog down nor provide slow service.

The Google URL Shortener is on its initial stages and only available-for now-in the updated versions of the Google Toolbar and FeeBurner.

Image source:  GoogleFont.com

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