Popularity of Bit.ly is massive in the URL shortening space. It’s touted the most-sought-after option for web users when they use the social networking sites, especially micro-blogging platform Twitter.  As we all know, Twitter doesn’t allow text messages to be more than 140-characters, so many of us turn to Bit.ly which help condense long internet addresses into much shorter strings of random characters.
In the last year and a half or so, URL shorteners have gained immense significance among corporations with increasing web users taking the URL shortener route. Though there are other URL shorteners like TinyURL, ShortURL among others available in the market, no can deny the overwhelming presence Bit.ly enjoys among its web users. Clearly, there’s a lot of buzz surrounding the URL shortener space, especially after the recent launch of similar own URL shorteners by social media sites like Facebook (Fb.me) and YouTube (Youtu.be). The most obvious talk is whether Bit.ly’s popularity would get dented. If one tries to put things in perspective, Bit.ly may not have to worry for now at least. Well Why? Because both Facebook and YouTube have only launched their URL shorteners but haven’t yet arrived in the market as standalone service for broader consumer use.
In fact, to be more specific, Facebook's shortener is primarily designed for use on mobile device while YouTube’s shortener can only be used to shorten YouTube links, more focused on making it easier to share video clips and channels with friends.
On the brighter side, if we assume that Fb.me and Youtu.be are made available for broader consumer use in the coming months, consumers have reasons to rejoice. Presence of two new entrants in the URL shortener space would only mean that consumers would have a wider variety of URL shorteners to choose from.
Of course, the moment Fb.me and Youtu arrive as standalone service, the seeds of stiff competition could be sown against Bit.ly. Having said that, one has to accept the fact that replacing Bit.ly as the leading URL shortener is easier said than done. Bit.ly is the most preferred destination for web users logging into Twitter and the most preferred choice for many third-party Twitter clients. As many as 75 per cent of all shortened URLs circulated on the micro-blogging platform emanate from Bit.ly.
So, it’s prudent to think that no new player can suddenly take away their dominance on Twitter. And just to get a realistic feel of things at large, we don’t expect web users to suddenly migrate from Bit.ly to newer URL shorteners. But yes, the induction of Fb.me and Youtu (for consumer use will cut into their market share however miniscule it may be.
The coming months could be exciting times as we would get a clearer picture of whether the ‘King of the Short’ continues to be the most preferred web address or if at all, its popularity has dipped.