Giv.to, an impressive URL shortener
I’ve just started using giv.to as my URL shortener of choice at work.
The service is available to causes (non-profits and political campaigns alike) only. This is a smart move by Giv.to, as by limiting service to causes, the Giv.to links will gain credibility in the online community. An added bonus is that the service does not allow anonymous links, so links can be trusted.
The analytics are the best I’ve seen to date. I’m particularly impressed with the Visitor Details, as it shows which city clicks are coming from (not to mention down to the second timestamp against each click). Clear graphs showing the Total Clicks over time and the more granular Clicks in the Last 24 Hours allow for an at a glance overview of each links success.
For those worried about Twitter account security in these times of scam Twitter services, Giv.to uses Twitter’s OAuth authentication service, rather than asking for your username and password when logging in.
Now, on to the pricing plans. For a limited time, the Basic service is free, and allows for unlimited URL creation. Extra features like extra-short URLs, vanity URLs and multiple users do come at a cost – from $5 to $50 a month (USD). However, when you consider the potential value of a URL like http://giv.to/mycause – a service like this would quickly find a place in any non-profit’s budget.
Over to you – have you used Giv.to? Will you be making the switch or are you content with your current service?
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