A TinyURL™ is a link to a website that uses a Universal Resource Locator (URL) shortening service to shorten the URL while connecting to the desired website. These types of URLs are often used for message posting services, such as various forms of social media that may only allow a few characters per post. They are also common on forums and similar Internet sites where people want easy access to other web pages. By using a TinyURL™ service, a long URL can be significantly shortened, making it easier to remember, type, post to another site, and otherwise use.
Message publishing services use TinyURL.
The original TinyURL™ site was established in 2002 as a way for people to link to sites like news networks and forums without having to type long URLs. A URL is the web address used by most users to browse the Internet and find the website they are looking for. URLs typically take the form of a web address, such as http://www.wisegeek.com, which establishes a text address that people can remember and that computer networks convert to an Internet Protocol (IP) address for direct the user to the appropriate website. However, a big problem with using URLs is that they can become very long and difficult to remember, type, or post to other pages.
URL shortening services are often used on social networks.
A TinyURL™ is a web address that has been significantly shortened to allow someone to access the site without having to type the full address. Basically, it works by creating a secondary link, usually using something like http://www.tinyurl.com followed by an identifier specific to the desired web page. When someone types the TinyURL™ link, it quickly redirects the user’s browser to the page with the full URL. This type of service is especially useful for some newsgroups and similar types of sites that may have extremely long URLs when referring to a specific article or page on the site.
One of the main potential disadvantages of using TinyURLs™ is that it requires an additional process to take the user to the desired website. There is already some possibility of failure in the basic use of URLs, as a network system needs to process that URL and change it to the desired IP address that the network can actually recognize. By adding an extra step, changing TinyURL™ to the actual URL, there is another opportunity for the system to malfunction. If the TinyURL™ service fails, none of the links will work. There is also a potential security issue of someone accessing the TinyURL™ system and redirecting addresses incorrectly.
