'Net Features : url shortener

HootSuite Releases Simple, Useful, Ridiculously Costly Tool

Mike Phillips — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 00:30:00 GMT

HootSuite, the multi-social network manager has released a simple, yet very useful addition to their suite of tools. Dubbed HootSuite Secure Profiles, it allows account owners to require a confirmation before an update is published to social profiles. So, if a company profile (or several) is set this way, the user must use a slider (pictured below) as a confirmation before sending the message. It's a great idea – but sometimes what might seem like a good idea at the time, isn't. Just ask @ChryslerAutos.

The rub (and there is one, of course) is that Secure Profiles is only available to HootSuite Enterprise members -- so you have to pay. A lot. Enterprise plans start at a whopping $1,499 per month. Otherwise, just be sure to educate your staff on acceptable social practices. And hire smart people.

It's unfortunate that HootSuite isn't providing this tool for free. Wouldn't everyone be better off -- wouldn't the social Web be better off – with something like this available to everyone? I suspect a rival will soon have this feature available to all, for free, which could actually cause many users to switch their alliances – especially small business operators.

Goo.gl URL Shortener Now Public

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 20:37:00 GMT

Goo.gl, the URL shortener Google launched last December, is now publicly available and can be used for any links on the Web. Google is actively touting the stability (near (100% uptime since launch), security (Google added automatic spam detection, the same filtering available in Gmail and Speed.

From the blog post: There are many shorteners out there with great features, so some people may wonder whether the world really needs yet another. As we said late last year, we built goo.gl with a focus on quality. With goo.gl, every time you shorten a URL, you know it will work, it will work fast, and it will keep working. You also know that when you click a goo.gl shortened URL, you’re protected against malware, phishing and spam using the same industry-leading technology we use in search and other products.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is the built-in tracking. If users sign-in to their Google account, they will see a list of the URLs they have shortened in the past. Click "details" and you'll find public, real-time analytics, with traffic over time, top referrers and visitor profiles.

URL Shortener in a CMS: CrownPeak Unveils Cpeak.us

Pete Prestipino — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:57:00 GMT

There are hundreds of URL shortners available now (WM uses a mix of bit.ly and cli.gs) but can they be made even more useful than they already are? Well, what if each time you created a piece of content you'd have a short URL ready for promotion, right from the virtual fingertips of your CMS?

Marketing-friendly content management system CrownPeak now does just that, today announcing a URL shortener (Cpeak.us) designed for those using its suite of tools.

“By adding the URL Shortener into the CrownPeak CMS, we are further extending our content management capabilities for social networking. Our clients can now streamline their Web publishing and social networking processes, without sacrificing the ability to measure content effectiveness,” said Jim Howard, CEO of CrownPeak. “With the URL Shortener, marketers can easily test and implement new Web and social media strategies and measure the efficacy of those programs from their existing analytics platforms.”

Features of the CrownPeak URL shortener include:

-Web and social media content publishing: Because the CrownPeak CMS already automatically publishes content directly into the most popular social networks, marketers do not have to waste time creating a shortened URL through another Web service when creating new content.

- Web analytics integration: The solution unifies Web analytics for pages that may be available under both longer Web site related URLs as well as the shortened URLs, while providing a breakout of the traffic. The URL Shortener integrates with multiple analytics systems, including CrownPeak Analytics, WebTrends, Omniture’s Site Catalyst or others.

- URL illustrations: Once customers create shortened URLs for designated Web pages and documents, the CrownPeak CMS will illustrate a list of available content within CrownPeak CMS’ Social Networking Tools for easy access and dissemination (e.g. Twittering and other social media updates).

- Instant availability: Because the CrownPeak URL Shortener is part of their existing service, covered by the same service level agreement of the other CrownPeak services, clients don’t have to worry about whether the service will be available when needed.