About Twitter's link service (http://t.co)
Below are some frequently asked questions about t.co, Twitter's link-shortening service.
How does link shortening work?
Links shared on Twitter.com will automatically be shortened to a http://t.co link. Learn how to shorten links here. Please note: t.co links are neither private nor public; anyone with the link will be able to navigate to the content.
Why does Twitter have its own link shortener?
Shortened links allow you to share long URLs in a Tweet while maintaining the maximum number of characters for your message.
Our link service measures information such as how many times a link has been clicked, which is an important quality signal in determining how relevant and interesting each Tweet is when compared to similar Tweets.
Having a link shortener protects users from malicious sites that engage in spreading malware, phishing attacks, and other harmful activity. A link converted by Twitter’s link service is checked against a list of potentially dangerous sites. Users are warned with the error message below when clicking on potentially harmful URLs.
If the URL of a site you manage has been flagged, please see this help page about flagged URLs for more information.