Twitter rolls out automatic URL shortening

From PC World: Twitter rolled out an automatic link shortening feature on Tuesday that enables users to paste long URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) directly into messages sent through its microblogging website, without worrying that the message will exceed the service's 140-character limit.

Users can paste a link of any length into the message composition box on the site, according to a company blog post.

"After you've composed your Tweet and you hit the "Tweet" button, we'll shorten the link so that it only takes up 19 characters," it said.

"You no longer have to worry about fitting a long link into the 140 character limit," Twitter said on its support page.

Users currently rely on third-party link-shortening services, which will continue to be supported on Twitter.

The service is being rolled out by Twitter to a small percentage of users to start with. After 13 characters of a URL are entered, a message appears to let the user know that the link will be shortened. Even after the message character limit is reached, users can continue to add text to the URL, Twitter said.

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