This article is more than 1 year old

Google opens API for url shrinker

goo.gl app tap

Google has launched an API for its new url shortening service.

When the company launched its goo.gl url shortener to world+dog in the fall, it promised to eventually provide a programming interface, and on Monday, it finally rolled the thing out at Google Code Labs – to much fanfare among the Googly set.

"With this API, developers are able to programmatically access all of the fast, sleek goo.gl goodness that we currently provide via the web interface," the company says in a blog post. "You could use these features for a wide variety of applications, enabling behaviors ranging from auto-shortening within Twitter or Google Buzz clients to running regular jobs that monitor your usage statistics and traffic patterns."

Note the requisite nod to Google Buzz, a Twitter-like service the rest of the world has largely forgotten about.

The API allows applications and websites to not only shorten urls but also monitor traffic to those links. Individuals can still use the service at http://goo.gl.

Google launched the service to provide what it sees as faster, more reliable, and more secure url shortening. And the company says it's still honing tools designed to weed out un-kosher content. "We’re continuing to work on several usability improvements and to make our auto-detection of spammy or malicious content even more robust," the post reads. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like