<s>
TinyURL	B-Protocol
is	O
a	O
URL	O
shortening	O
web	O
service	O
,	O
which	O
provides	O
short	O
aliases	O
for	O
redirection	O
of	O
long	O
URLs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Kevin	O
Gilbertson	O
,	O
a	O
web	B-Operating_System
developer	I-Operating_System
,	O
launched	O
the	O
service	O
in	O
January	O
2002	O
as	O
a	O
way	O
to	O
post	O
links	O
in	O
newsgroup	B-Application
postings	O
which	O
frequently	O
had	O
long	O
,	O
cumbersome	O
addresses	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TinyURL	B-Protocol
was	O
the	O
first	O
notable	O
URL	O
shortening	O
service	O
and	O
is	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
oldest	O
still	O
currently	O
operating	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
TinyURL	B-Protocol
homepage	O
includes	O
a	O
form	O
which	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
submit	O
a	O
long	O
URL	O
for	O
shortening	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
each	O
URL	O
entered	O
,	O
the	O
server	O
adds	O
a	O
new	O
alias	O
in	O
its	O
hashed	B-Algorithm
database	O
and	O
returns	O
a	O
short	O
URL	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TinyURL	B-Protocol
offers	O
an	O
API	B-Application
which	O
allows	O
applications	O
to	O
automatically	O
create	O
short	O
URLs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
examples	O
of	O
limited	O
text	O
boxes	O
are	O
IRC	O
channel	O
topics	O
,	O
email	O
signatures	O
,	O
microblogs	B-Application
(	O
such	O
as	O
Twitter	B-Application
,	O
which	O
notably	O
limits	O
all	O
posts	O
to	O
first	O
140	O
and	O
later	O
280	O
characters	O
)	O
,	O
certain	O
printed	O
newspapers	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
.net	O
magazine	O
or	O
even	O
Nature	O
)	O
,	O
and	O
email	B-Protocol
clients	I-Protocol
that	O
impose	O
line	O
breaks	O
on	O
messages	O
at	O
a	O
certain	O
length	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Starting	O
in	O
2008	O
,	O
TinyURL	B-Protocol
allowed	O
users	O
to	O
create	O
custom	O
,	O
more	O
meaningful	O
aliases	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
https://tinyurl.com/wp-tinyurl	O
leads	O
to	O
the	O
Wikipedia	O
article	O
about	O
the	O
website	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
preview	O
the	O
full	O
URL	O
from	O
the	O
short	O
TinyURL	B-Protocol
,	O
the	O
user	O
can	O
visit	O
TinyURL	B-Protocol
first	O
and	O
enable	O
previews	O
as	O
a	O
default	O
browser	O
cookie	O
setting	O
or	O
copy	O
and	O
paste	O
the	O
short	O
URL	O
into	O
the	O
browser	O
address	O
bar	O
,	O
and	O
prepend	O
the	O
short	O
tinyurl.com/x	O
with	O
preview.tinyurl.com/x	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
preview	O
feature	O
is	O
not	O
well	O
documented	O
at	O
the	O
TinyURL	B-Protocol
site	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
alternative	O
shortened	O
URL	O
with	O
preview	O
capability	O
is	O
also	O
offered	O
to	O
shortcut	O
creators	O
as	O
an	O
option	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
the	O
link	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
popularity	O
of	O
TinyURLs	B-Protocol
influenced	O
the	O
creation	O
of	O
at	O
least	O
100	O
similar	O
websites	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
People	O
posting	O
on	O
Twitter	B-Application
often	O
made	O
extensive	O
use	O
of	O
shortened	O
URLs	O
to	O
keep	O
their	O
tweets	B-Application
within	O
the	O
service-imposed	O
140-character	O
limit	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Twitter	B-Application
used	O
TinyURL	B-Protocol
until	O
2009	O
,	O
before	O
switching	O
to	O
Bit.ly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Currently	O
,	O
Twitter	B-Application
uses	O
its	O
own	O
t.co	O
domain	O
for	O
this	O
purpose	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Though	O
Twitter	B-Application
has	O
extended	O
its	O
limit	O
to	O
280	O
characters	O
,	O
it	O
automatically	O
shortens	O
links	O
longer	O
than	O
31	O
characters	O
using	O
its	O
t.co	O
domain	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
TinyURL	B-Protocol
method	O
of	O
allocating	O
shorter	O
web	O
addresses	O
has	O
inspired	O
an	O
exploration	O
activity	O
known	O
as	O
TinyURL-whacking	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Random	O
letters	O
and	O
numbers	O
can	O
be	O
appended	O
after	O
the	O
first	O
forward	O
slash	O
tinyurl.com/	O
,	O
in	O
an	O
attempt	O
to	O
find	O
and	O
reveal	O
interesting	O
sites	O
without	O
finding	O
and	O
copying	O
a	O
previously	O
known	O
referrer	O
's	O
link	O
.	O
</s>
