When you're Twittering, every character counts. A new URL-shortening service from Dot TK, called TweaK, shortens links directly into a domain name, promising the shortest possible links available today.
"Competitors in the URL shortening industry are using a short domain name and add a six character suffix behind it to identify the link. At Dot TK we identify the link directly by the domain name, making each link at least six characters shorter than any other URL shortening service," explains Joost Zuurbier, CEO at Dot TK.
In brief TechRadar tests, TweaK (http://tweak.tk/) created links of just 15 characters (such as http://8ih6o.tk) compared to 17- (http://is.gd/3Wku) and 20-character links (http://tiny.cc/shRav) from Is.gd and TinyCC.
It's not quite the 6-character saving promised, but a bonus if you're struggling with a 140-character Tweet. (And yes, we know Tiny Arrows (http://tinyarro.ws/) creates URLs that are shorter still, but have you tried typing Unicode symbols on your mobile?).
Tweet shop
TweaK also released a simple API that allows developers to integrate the TweaK service into their own application. Dot TK asks all developers that have integrated the Twitter API into their services also to integrate the TweaK API, making their offering complete.
"TweaK is using a real 301 redirect to the user that is using a TweaKed domain. A 301 redirect is a great way to still have search engines follow the domain to the actual website with the actual content," says Maurice van der Meer, CTO at Dot TK. "We are very happy to release this service and we are welcoming all developers to start using our free TweaK API."
Dot TK is the the registry for .TK domain names, a joint venture of the Government of Tokelau, its communication company Teletok and BV Dot TK, a privately held Dutch company.
Tokelau is a territory of New Zealand in the Pacific Ocean consisting of three coral atolls, and has the smallest economy of any country in the world.
