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by Nicholas Aaron Khoo, Singapore

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The problems with shortened URLs on Twitter

Oct 3, 2009 03:11

The need to say everything in 140 characters has spurred the growth of shortened URL services. These services are great and come with some additional addon services like tracking click-throughs, etc. But this geek foresees three problems with using these services, especially the last two which I suspect people don't spend enough time thinking about.

Firstly, shortened URLs are oftentimes harder to remember because of all the characters they use that don't make sense. What I mean is, it would be easier to remember http://www.geekonomics.us/about/ as compared with http://is.gd/3RIV8. It's an irony because, normally, URLs are supposed to be easier to remember as they get shorter.

Next, search engine optimization (SEO). One of the most basic principles of SEO is how many people link back to your site or page. These are called linkbacks. The more linkbacks you get, the better your page will rank in search results. With shortened URLs, even if a thousand people find your story interesting and retweet it, you won't get the linkback count, and thus they won't help your SEO as much as compared to you getting 1,000 linkbacks from sites without the shortened URLs.

Lastly, and this is where I believe the biggest problem will arise going forward, is malware. The problem is, one often has no idea where the link leads to until they click it.

Unfortunately, malware authors have caught on to this--Symantec Security Response has observed that:

Cybercriminals are using these shortened URLs to distribute misleading applications. Using enticing tweets and commonly used Twitter search terms, their goal is to get other users to click on their shortened links and thus fall prey to malicious code.

Neither Twitter nor the URL-shortening services are at fault here--this is simply another case where malicious attackers use a neutral technology as a means for their deceptive ends. As both services are convenient technologies that are catching on rapidly, how do you protect yourself?

The good news is that both Firefox and Internet Explorer offer browser plug-ins that can check a shortened URL and show the final URL before the user even clicks on it. While it does not fully confirm if the link is malicious, it will at least allow the user to look more carefully before clicking.

Alas, this does not work for people using Twitter clients like Tweetdeck.

So, always be careful what you click on, and stay protected.

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techguy

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techguy says...
@geek: I totally agree with your insights. I am sure you're aware that there are services online that extends the 140 character limit of Twitter, will that change things?

Oct 03, 2009 09:36

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Geekonomics

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Geekonomics says...
Thanks, they'll change things if people using these services stop using shortened URLs I guess?

Oct 03, 2009 11:40

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About Nicholas Aaron Khoo

Nicknamed "Gadget Boy" by friends at age 18 because he used to scribble Grafitti on a PalmPilot faster than most would type, Nicholas Aaron Khoo is web developer turned technopreneur and Singapore tech blogger who also pretends to do strategic advisory for tech startups and 'un'Fortune 500s (when he's not pretending to be the gadget-loaded Batman). A digital nomad, his tech interests range from gadgets, games, tech trends, social media, security, and just about anything that runs on 1s and 0s. See his industry affiliations here.
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