Gnip Joins Leading Companies to Launch Independent URL Mapping Directory Service

Gnip Platform to Power 301works.org

BOULDER, Colo, – August 14, 2009 – Leading Internet software companies have joined together to launch an independent URL mapping directory service. The new service will allow all participating short URL providers the ability to make their mappings available as regular updates or as a historical archive through the directory. The service is planned to launch in the next few weeks after participating companies individually inform their respective user communities of their planned participation. Once launched the service will be available at http://www.301works.org and will be managed and run by Gnip, Inc. while the participating companies work to identify an appropriate non-profit organization to manage the directory long-term.

“As an avid user of social media it is exciting to see this group of companies step forward to enhance the open web”, said Gnip CEO Eric Marcoullier. “In providing the technology to power the 301works solution Gnip is ensuring that the social connections and data represented by the millions of URL mappings done everyday continue to be available across the web.”

Industry Leaders Step Forward to Provide Permanence and Transparency

The explosion of micro-blogging and status updates has helped to fuel the adoption of short URL formats across the web and increasingly custom short URLs are being used by businesses and individuals.

URL Mappings provide a central fabric for social expression and distribution of conversations and ideas across the entire web. People generate short URLs everyday and they need to know that these mappings will continue to function as they were intended when generated, that their mappings will be available for them to use in the future, and that their privacy preferences will be respected. With short URL formats having reached general acceptance by millions of users in their daily activities there was a need for the industry to ensure the connections provided by these mappings exist over time.

“Having long-term security and stability are important goals for us in serving our users, and that is why Cligs is excited to support and contribute to this industry initiative,” said Dr. Pierre Far, founder of Cligs.

“301works is an important step for the growth of social media”, said awe.sm CEO Jonathan Strauss. “awe.sm is proud to be working with everyone involved to address users’ needs as this space takes on more importance for consumers and businesses.”

It is with these shared goals for improved permanence and transparency that Adjix, awe.sm, betaworks, bit.ly, Cligs, Gnip, URLizer, and urlShort have joined to launch this new organization.

Learn more at http://www.301works.org.

About Adjix Adjix is a URL shortener with statistics that track every click by IP address. Adjix is available through either bookmarklets, which are integrated with Twitter; an open API; or the web, at http://adjix.com. Users can use their own domain name in their shortened URLs and Adjix includes optional ads as part of a revenue sharing program.

About awe.sm awe.sm is a campaign tracking platform for professional publishers and marketers using social media to distribute content and build their brands. Still in private beta, awe.sm currently powers over 100 branded URL shorteners for customers like Interscope Records, Topspin Media, and TechCrunch.

About betaworks Founded in 2007, betaworks is a media company that creates new web businesses and acquires equity stakes in startups. It owns stakes in bit.ly, Tweetdeck, Uservoice, GDGT, Twitter, and more than a dozen other companies.

About bit.ly Bit.ly is an URL shortener that allows users to share and track links. Bit.ly is available on the web, through bookmarklets, and via an open API. When users share URLs with bit.ly, they’re able to view real-time traffic to their links, analyze location and referrer data, and track statistics and trends.

About Cligs Cligs helps marketers understand the impact of their online marketing campaigns by providing real-time analytics, geotargeting, and social media monitoring of shortened URLs. The service is free and can be found at http://cli.gs.

About Gnip, Inc. Gnip is standardizing the way companies access and integrate the web’s data. Using Gnip’s on-demand platform companies can simplify how they access and integrate social and business data from across the Internet. Learn more about how Gnip makes it easy to access, filter and integrate the web’s data at http://www.gnip.com.

About URLizer.com Programmer and open web advocate Steve Williams created URLizer.com in 2002 as a private tool for sending links via email. While Steve and his friends and family have created fewer than 3,000 short URLs since launch, he is glad to contribute them to 301works.org as part of a healthy web ecosystem.

About urlShort urlShort is a free, open-source project aiming to provide a simple, yet full-featured URL shortening service to both content publishers and users alike. urlShort is highly accessible through a web interface, full, bookmarklet, Firefox extension, and a full, open API. urlShort is also highly adaptable, and can serve as a private short URL service for publishers to ensure trust in their links, or as an open, public short URL service for regular users. urlShort is managed and released by Maverick Revolution, and is available at http://urlshort.sf.net.