TechAirlines: Technology Tips

URL shortening services such as bit.ly and TinyURL are becoming more and more popular these days for Twitter links… and for spreading malware. What’s that? Malware?

These services have gained popularity on Twitter where users have to send links in less than 140 characters combined with their message. The problem is that users have no idea whats actaully behind the links. The message could say “Get a free #GoogleWave invite!” followed by a link shortened with bit.ly. Because of the demand for invites and the overall topic, many users click through. But is that link going to a contest or some rogue software site? Such an incident actaully happened to me once involving Google Wave. The shortened link lead to a site distributing a rogue malware scanner.

Even though bit.ly and TinyURL (and others) do their best to prevent unwanted sites from being shortened, its not always perfect.

Some Twitter clients, like Tweetdeck have an option to show whats behind the link before you visit it, but what happens if you click the link from Twitter.com?

The people behind bit.ly have created a lightweight Firefox extension to solve this problem.

Hover over a URL shortened with bit.ly (and some other services) and a black box will appear with information about the link behind it.

Clicking more information will go to the page showing extra information such as number of tweets, Facebook shares, etc… as well as detailed click information.

The extension also works on other services including TinyURL. They don’t seem to provide a list of services they support.

If a bit.ly exists for the TinyURL (or other services), it will provide information about it. If it doesn't, it will create a bit.ly for it.

The only option available is to link the extension to a bit.ly account. At the time of writing, I have yet to figure out what this does. I logged in but there’s nothing in the extension that creates bit.ly links or anything that has to do with bit.ly accounts. The URL created from TinyURLs (if it does not already exist) do not get linked to your bit.ly account either.

You can link the extension to your bit.ly account although I don't see the purpose of this since the add-on doesn't do anything that involves your account.

Because bit.ly does not have an SSL Server, as of Version 1.265 (Nov. 5, 2009), it will no longer load the bit.ly API on HTTPS pages to maintain a secure browsing status. Therefore, if you are browsing a page in HTTPS, the extension will not work. This includes the HTTPS version of Twitter, which I noticed is usually not at fully secure status anyway.

A good addition I would suggest is to allow users to add a list of HTTPS sites to enable the extension on. For example, is an HTTPS version of Twitter (besides logging in and maybe Direct Messages) really necessary? The extension should also mention that it does not work on HTTPS sites. I only found this information hidden inside the changelog.

It also works on Twitter username links.

Hovering over a Twitter username will provide their avatar, location, biography, and website.

Bit.ly Preview Rating:

Performance: 4
Features: 4
Ease of Use: 4
Value for Money: 5
Appearance: 4

Final Rating: 4.15

An alternate to this extension is one that I introduced back in August known as Interclue.

Hover Clues lengthens short URLs to help you avoid malware.

Additional Tips

Add “+” to the end of any bit.ly link to go to the info page instead of directly to the site. For example, http://bit.ly/eJ0Fo goes to my Windows Live Movie Maker post, but http://bit.ly/eJ0Fo+ goes to the info page instead.

Add “preview” to the beginning of TinyURLs to go to the preview page instead showing you where the link will take you. For example, http://tinyurl.com/9hnqrz takes you to the bit.ly Extension page but http://preview.tinyurl.com/9hnqrz tells you where you are going first. You can also set a cookie preference here to have TinyURL automatically go to the preview site first.

Safe surfing with shortened URLs!

Bit.ly Preview (Mozilla Add-ons)