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Comment by skrebbel | Hacker News Reader

Now that Twitter auto-shortens URLs (and expands them in the UI), is there really a use left for URL-shorteners? Are there any other major platforms where text length matters?

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In print: I like how net magazine uses netm.ag/description-123 for any links so it's easy to type and doesn't take up too much space. This also gives analytics for print articles where you normally can't watch whether anyone followed a link

You don't need to rely on routing through Twitter. Works when Twitter blocked or down. Branding.

Also tracking.

Also you can modify where the link points after distributing it in case you notice a mistake.

The biggest advantage of URL shorteners, outside of the length, is the ability to quickly generate URLs that are track-able, instead of constantly adding campaigns with something like grasswire.com/1234?refid=twitter, which is how a lot of marketers track where their clicks come from.

This is only beneficial to one side of the userbase. For users clicking the links it's only inconvenience.

Length matters when it comes to print format.

but george-harrison-has-an-opinion is a lot easier to type without mistakes than An6X9z16Q.

and really it both sucks, which is why many print magazines collect an edition's links on a special page like magazinename.com/2014/5.

Yeah, they shouldn't be doing it like that. they should have control of their own shortener.

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