Popular URL shortener and bookmarking tool bitly has announced "realtime," an aptly named real-time discovery engine.  Realtime pulls in click data from a variety of social networks and allow searchers to view by topic, query, location, language or domain. Realtime (URL is rt.ly) pulls in all posts from "across the bitlyverse" which allows users to see what is being clicked on now.   One of the most beneficial application of the service is showing what is happening on each social network including Twitter, Facebook, tumblr, ameblo and Linkedin. Not only can you search a query acro [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Marketing Tools: Social Media | Marketing Tools: URL Shorteners | Social Media Marketing | Top News

In response to some very vocal feedback in the past week, Bitly has tweaked its new interface to make URL shortening faster, easier and more prominent. Many Bitly users were upset when the company relaunched its website last week and, in the process, shifted more toward a social experience than a URL shortening one. As I wrote in our coverage, "URL shortening almost seems like an afterthought in the new design." Bitly says it heard the feedback: We mean it when we say we've been reading all your tweets and emails. And we're listening! In the week since our release, we're already maki [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Marketing Tools | Marketing Tools: URL Shorteners | Top News

Bitly has rolled out a major overhaul today, expanding its service beyond URL shortening into something that looks like its own social network, with bits of Stumbleupon and Delicious.com in the mix, too. The update includes a new user interface (with a new fish logo, shown at right), new user profile pages, more visibility for what friends are sharing, a new iPhone app, an improved search tool, better privacy controls and more. Like I said -- a major overhaul. What's strange, at least to me, is that URL shortening almost seems like an afterthought in the new design. Or, more likely, it' [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social Media | Features & Analysis | Marketing Tools | Marketing Tools: URL Shorteners | Top News