Bitly, The Link Shortener, Gets A Makeover

Bitly is a name that many will associate as a way to cram more into their 140 Twitter characters. The company first came to tweeters’ attention in 2008 as a way to shorten website addresses, giving Twitter fans plenty more space to write what they need to about the links they share on their accounts. Bitly also offers the function of being able to customize the shortened web address, giving people who use the same URL over and over a shorter, easier to remember Bitly link.

Over the years, Bitly has changed here and there, adding services and taking away ones that didn’t provide customers with what they needed. Now they have given the service a complete makeover, with the Social Times announcing Bitly has “a new logo, a logo mark and a new tagline.” But, besides from a cool new look, what does that mean to Bitly users?

For starters, Bitly will get a new logo. It is similar to the previous one they had but has been tweaked a little:

Along with these slight changes come the new Bitly icon, or logomark, a direct homage to the fact that Bitly is such a handy tool for Twitter users:

The new tagline, “the power of the link,” gives users the confidence to use their product. The website expanded on the tagline by saying:

“This is the foundation of our brand. All of the data we collect and the stories we help tell stem from Bitlinks. They are the core of our business, our bread and butter. Here, our new refined logo is accompanied by our beloved brand font, Brandon Grotesque. We chose this font because it is strong and contemporary while still having a friendly touch.”

The biggest change, however, is it’s deep linking tool. According to the Bitly blog, mobile platforms can now take advantage of mobile deep linking as a way “to drive app installs and re-engagement”. This means, in layman terms, any Bitly link that is deep linked will take viewers who are using the mobile version of a website to the exact same location as if they were navigating through the actual website on their PC.

Have you used Bitly before? Do you think you will give it a go now? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

[Images courtesy of the Bitly blog website]