Bitly
{{Short description|American link management platform}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Bitly
| logo = Bit.ly Logo.svg
| logo_size = 200px
| url = {{URL|https://bitly.com}}
| type = URL shortening, bookmarks
| registration = Required
| language = English
| owner = Spectrum Equity{{Cite web | title=Bitly sells a majority stake to Spectrum Equity for $63M | last=Ha | first=Anthony| work=TechCrunch | date=July 12, 2017 | url = https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/12/bitly-spectrum-equity/}}
| key_people = Toby Gabriner{{Cite web | title=Toby Gabriner - Chief Executive Officer - Bitly | work=LinkedIn | url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobygabriner/}} (CEO)
| num_employees = 234 (2020){{Cite news | title=Bitly Company Profile | work=Craft | url=https://craft.co/bitly}}
| launch_date = {{start date and age|2009|09|13}}
| current_status = Active
}}
Bitly is a URL shortening service and a link management platform. The company Bitly, Inc. was established in 2008. It is privately held and based in New York City. Bitly shortens 600 million links per month,{{cite web|last1=Newman |first1=Andrew Adam |title=Bitly Helps the Red Cross Get to Hope.ly |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/business/media/bitly-helps-the-red-cross-get-to-hopely.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=22 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141203010429/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/business/media/bitly-helps-the-red-cross-get-to-hopely.html|archive-date=3 December 2014|date=1 December 2014}} for use in social networking, SMS, and email. Bitly makes money by charging for access to aggregate data created as a result of many people using the shortened URLs.
In 2017, Spectrum Equity acquired a majority stake in Bitly for $64 million.
From November 2023, short links cannot be created anymore by guest users, requiring users to create an account.
Products
The Bitly URL shortening service became popular on Twitter after it became the default URL shortening service on the website on May 6, 2009.{{cite news |title=URL Shortening Wars: Twitter Ditches TinyURL For bit.ly |first=Robin |last=Wauters |work=TechCrunch |date=May 6, 2009 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2009/05/06/url-shortening-wars-twitter-ditches-tinyurl-for-bitly/ |access-date=July 4, 2010}} It was subsequently replaced by Twitter's own t.co service.{{cite web|url=https://support.twitter.com/articles/109623-about-twitter-s-link-service-http-t-co# |title=Twitter Help Center {{pipe}} About Twitter's link service |publisher=Support.twitter.com |access-date=2014-03-19}}
The company behind Bitly launched a similar service, but for online videos, to determine what videos are the most popular on the web.{{cite news |title=Watch The Buzz On Bitly.TV |first=Erick |last=Schonfeld |work=TechCrunch |date=December 17, 2009 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2009/12/17/watch-the-buzz-on-bitly-tv/ |access-date=July 4, 2010}}
The company offers a paid solution called Bitly Enterprise that provides advanced branding features, audience intel, omnichannel campaign tracking, custom QR codes and more. Companies can use their own custom domains to generate shortened links; for example, The New York Times uses nyti.ms and Pepsi uses pep.si. This allows the company to push brand awareness on services such as Twitter but use the Bitly engine to generate the shortened URLs and track marketing metrics.{{cite web |title=bit.ly.Pro: Create Short URLs With Your Own Domain |first=Imran |last=Ali |work=GigaOM |date=February 6, 2009 |url=http://gigaom.com/collaboration/bit-ly-pro-create-short-urls-with-your-own-domain/ |access-date=November 6, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101104055802/http://gigaom.com/collaboration/bit-ly-pro-create-short-urls-with-your-own-domain/ |archive-date=November 4, 2010 }} Bitly Enterprise also has advanced analytics features and uses Bitly data to provide advanced social insight tools for companies and brands.
Technology
The company uses HTTP 301 redirects for its links. The shortcuts are intended to be permanent and cannot be changed once they are created. URLs that are shortened with the bitly service use the bit.ly domain or any other generic domain that the service offers.{{cite web |url=https://securityheaders.com/?q=bit.ly |title=Scan results for bit.ly |access-date=2021-09-15}}
Starting October 12, 2010, users could automatically generate QR codes that, when scanned with a mobile QR code reader, automatically directed users to shortened links.{{cite web |title=URL Shortener Bit.ly Now Generates QR Codes, Too |first=Lauren|last=Indvick |work=Mashable |date=December 17, 2009 |url=http://mashable.com/2010/10/13/bit-ly-qr-codes/|access-date=October 13, 2010}}
On May 29, 2012, Bitly announced "Bitmarks", a new search feature, with enhanced public profiles and an iPhone app.{{cite web |last=Lardinois |first=Frederic |date=May 29, 2012 |title=Bitly Launches New Bookmarking Features, Profiles, Search & iPhone App |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/05/29/bitly-launches-new-bookmarking-features-profiles-search-iphone-app/ |publisher=Techcrunch.com}}
In 2025, Bitly announced that links made with the free plan would no longer be just redirects, but would instead feature an intermediate page with advertisements.{{cite news |title=Bitly’s Big Mistake: Why Their Free Plan Is Now Useless |url=https://skyeline.com/fbymarketing/bitlys-big-mistake-why-their-free-plan-is-now-useless/ |access-date=22 April 2025 |work=SkyeLine Studio}}{{cite news |title=Goodbye Bitly... New Preview Page is a Major Step Back |url=https://webdesignerdepot.com/goodbye-bit-ly-new-preview-page-is-a-major-step-back/ |access-date=22 April 2025 |date=14 February 2025}}
=Preview short URLs=
To see a short URL's information, that is to reveal or preview any Bitly URL https://bit.ly/x just append a plus sign "+", as in https://bit.ly/x+, for example https://bit.ly/1sNZMwL should be copy and pasted into the browser address bar as https://bit.ly/1sNZMwL+.{{cite web|title=What is the Bitly info page?|url=http://bitly.is/1RrFPno|access-date=October 23, 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160715104259/http://bitly.is/1RrFPno|archive-date=July 15, 2016|url-status=dead}}
This allows users to see and check the long URL before visiting it.
Alternative domains
.ly is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Libya. In 2011, the bit.ly address was set to redirect to bitly.com.{{cite web |url=https://securityheaders.com/?q=bit.ly |title=Scan results for bit.ly |access-date=2021-09-15}}
The .ly TLD is controlled by the Libyan government, which has previously removed one domain deemed incompatible with Muslim law.{{cite web |url=https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2370354,00.asp | last=Horn | first=Leslie | periodical=PC Magazine | date=2010-10-06 | access-date=2010-10-10 | title=Libya Seizes URL Shortener Vb.ly }}
Bitly users on paid plans can use a custom domain registered separately by the user and redirected to Bitly's servers via the DNS record.
Bitly used to offer additional domains: bitly.com and j.mp (using the top-level domain of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States). This functionality is no longer available.{{cite web |url=https://support.bitly.com/hc/en-us/articles/4423884643725-What-happened-to-j-mp-and-bitly-com-short-links-|title=What happened to j.mp and bitly.com short links?|access-date=2023-10-20}}
See also
References
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