Here's a minor policy change for Alfidi Capital. I've been using TinyURL to shorten the links I've posted to Twitter and other social media sites. I'm changing that to Google's Goo.gl URL shortener as of today. Google's tool economizes on text; it has much shorter character length than Tiny URL and only a few other tools are shorter (like Hootsuite's Ow.ly).
The more important reason to change is the advantage Goo.gl delivers for integration with the rest of my social media presence. It offers tracking tools that should indicate which of my links gain the most traction. It is designed to work with the other Google tools I use, specifically Blogger and AdSense. Other URL shorteners may eventually run into integration problems with Google's products.
Even the US government is getting into the URL shortening act with Go.USA.gov. The links to energy market data from DOE can get unwieldy but I don't plan on using this particular government product. I don't get the rationale for creating a new government site instead of using existing private sector solutions like Goo.gl. Google's search tools already power plenty of government databases, so using that company's free shortening tool would be a natural way to track traffic. I can't count on government solutions to follow some common sense path.
URL shorteners are part of the magic of the Interwebs.
