Does the world really need another URL shortener? Apparently, the U.S. government thinks so. It just launched
http://go.usa.gov
as a link shortening service for government employees. It shortens links from any .gov, .mil, or .si.edu site.
For instance,
http://go.usa.gov/llX
takes you to a page on Nasa’s site with some nice satellite imagery showing the Fall colors in Wisconsin. And
http://go.usa.gov/liO
is a link to http://www.Recovery.gov (I think you save two characters n that one). The idea is that if you see one of these short links you know it is coming from a government employee, which doesn’t exactly make it official but is supposed to make it more trustworthy.
When you see a go.usa.gov tweet, it will be like getting a messge directly from Uncle Sam, or rather, one of his minions. But I mean, really, can’t they just use bit.ly like everyone else?
With commercial link shorteners such as Cli.gs and Tr.im falling by the wayside, maybe the government will start a short URL bailout next. Go.USA.Gov!
(Hat tip to Anil Dash)
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