Google URL Shortener Shutdowns This Year

t.ly

11 points·TimLeland··10 comments

What happens when Google's URL Shortener stops working on August 25th? Billions of links all around the internet break. It should be interesting.

Can't wait until people stop using Google products.

Do you really think Google is going away anytime soon? Google and its ads are the backbone of much of the free internet. Without ads, we’d likely see most sites with paywalls. On the other hand, AI services have a chance to hurt Google if they don't catch up.

Good riddance, but thinly veiled marketing post.

Billions of links breaking is a good thing?

Continue the thought...

Google failed to keep a link shortner running...

Which will break billions of links...

Perhaps this other company can do better and never face that problem...

Anyone could have predicted that link shortner failure was a problem from the moment they sprang into being. Many did. The article's proposal is to just do more of the same instead of learning the lessons of the past.

They complain about not being able to run analytics and track users, and now they are getting rid of one of the best tracking methods. Do they have a coherent strategy or is this just internal politics?

Google runs on a scale much larger than most companies think. To run and operate Goo gl, they didn't see enough value even though millions of people used it.

Often times when Google shutdowns a product, it still has millions of users which is great for smaller businesses to step in and grow. That is what I was able to do creating T.LY around the same time Google announced the shutdown.

Now this is viral marketing...

Thanks! How do you measure it? :)

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