Links can be long and unwieldy, especially if you want to share them on a social media service like Twitter or Facebook. Link shortening makes your link easier to share and more attractive. Among the more popular services for this is Bit.ly, which can also give you some metrics regarding how widely your link is being shared. If you share long links often, read on!
Step 1
To start, open the page that you want to share in your web browser. Then, copy the page URL to your computer’s clipboard as if you were going to paste it into a Twitter message for sharing.
Step 2
Instead of going to Twitter to share your link, direct your web browser to the Bit.ly site instead. To do this, you can either type bit.ly into the navigation bar, or enter bitly.com. Both will be recognized.
Step 3
In the top right corner of the page, you will see a box encouraging you to “Paste a link to shorten it.” Paste your link into this space, then click the orange button next to it that says “SHORTEN.”
Step 4
You will be taken to a new page where your new shortened link is presented to you. Click the orange button that says “COPY” to save the new link to your clipboard. Then, go to Twitter or whichever other social network you are using and paste the link into your message!
Recap
If you like using Bit.ly will save you a lot of space in your limited-character social media posts. Best of all, Bit.ly remembers the links you have shortened over time and keeps track of how many people have clicked on them. You’ll be able to assess the reach of your links this way.
Step 1
To start, open the page that you want to share in your web browser. Then, copy the page URL to your computer’s clipboard as if you were going to paste it into a Twitter message for sharing.
Step 2
Instead of going to Twitter to share your link, direct your web browser to the Bit.ly site instead. To do this, you can either type bit.ly into the navigation bar, or enter bitly.com. Both will be recognized.
Step 3
In the top right corner of the page, you will see a box encouraging you to “Paste a link to shorten it.” Paste your link into this space, then click the orange button next to it that says “SHORTEN.”
Step 4
You will be taken to a new page where your new shortened link is presented to you. Click the orange button that says “COPY” to save the new link to your clipboard. Then, go to Twitter or whichever other social network you are using and paste the link into your message!
Recap
If you like using Bit.ly will save you a lot of space in your limited-character social media posts. Best of all, Bit.ly remembers the links you have shortened over time and keeps track of how many people have clicked on them. You’ll be able to assess the reach of your links this way.
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