Google is quickly branching out into multiple areas of the tech landscape, and has today moved to ensure it has another segment of web-based services covered by introducing its own URL shortening service.
URL shorteners are nothing new of course, and the world probably doesn't need another when services such as Bit.ly and TinyURL are already prevalent, but Google's offering provides a unique proposition via integration with the search giant's other services.
As the name suggests, URL shorteners are designed to reduce the number of letters in a URL - making them short and ideal for publishing on character-restricted social-networking websites such as Twitter. Google's URL shortener offers similar functionality, but isn't yet available for broad consumer use and can't be used to shorten links of a user's choice.
Instead, the Google service - launched at goo.gl - currently integrates with Google's Toolbar and Feedburner services, allowing users of the products to publish shortened links directly from within the applications themselves.
Google states that it will eventually make the service available to a wider audience, adding that it is ideally placed to offer URL-shortening functionality as a result of its multi-datacentre infrastructure, a solid history of uptime and quick performance across a wide range of web-based services.
