New Twitter Update Tackles Short URL Abuse
Twitter's latest anti-spam update is a subtle one, blink and you could very well miss it.
Twitter has taken a leaf out of (Twitter and social media manager) Brizzly's book by changing shortened links into full destination URLs. The move allows users to see exactly what link they are clicking to when following a short link URL on the microblogging service.
The pictures below show one screen shot taken immediately as the page loads and another taken a second or two later once Twitter has lengthened the short URL into a full link.
With just 140 character to express oneself, shortened URLs have gained enormously popularity - so much so that heavyweights Google, YouTube and Facebook have recently joined the party releasing their own versions to compete with leaders like bit.ly, is.gd and tiny.url.
The new Twitter feature may seem minor but it is a big step towards preventing short URL abuse on the service. Currently one spamming technique draws users to what they believe to be a short link of interest, but on clicking the short URL users are directing users to a spam or unsuitable/fraudulent link.
Such links will no longer be blind, giving users the chance to avoid the spam by seeing the full link URL.
The move also highlights what an excellent Twitter client Brizzly is. There is no greater compliment than seeing your Twitter copy a third-party's innovation for its service.
If you haven't tried Brizzly yet it comes high recommend, and not just from me.
This feature is yet to be announced on the Twitter blog at time of writing.
