When I prank my friends and don't want them to get alerted by the URL I send them, then I use so called url shortener. I came across aplenty of them. Some bad ones, some very good ones.

I also often use URL shortener when I want to share some eBay auctions. They do have some ridiculous long URLs. There are way to many reasons to list as to why you could or should use an URL shortening service.

Now my favourite of all url shortening services is http://shuurl.com because you get a screenshoted "preview" of what the linked web site looks like. You also get security stats compiled by the SHUURL community (Folks who, eventually, visit and security-rate the site). It helps if you are one of the more paranoid ones (like me).[SHUURL Don Salva's Blog , SHUURL Don Salva's Gallery]

Then there are http://bit.ly, http://tinyarro.ws, http://tinyurl.com, http://is.gd and http://snipr.com who do just that, URL shortening. And many more who I probably forgot to mention.

http://1link.in and http://linkbun.ch on the other hand are special. They allow you to shorten multiple URLs into 1 tiny URL.

http://tr.im and http://burnurl.com also are special. Tr.im shortens your URL and updates your Twitter or Identi.ca status. This service also tracks stats and allows commenting on your URLs. BurnURL however allows stats and social sharing beyond Twitter.

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