Shortened URLs driving up mobile internet traffic

Rating: Novarra puts some figures on our gut feelings

We’ve always suspected that services like Twitter are driving up mobile internet usage, but Novarra has managed to put some figures on it. Would you believe that mobile click-throughs driven by shortened URLs have grown by 1,068 per cent so far in 2009?

These figures have been extracted from Novarra’s Mobile Internet Experience Update (released in October 2009) and are extrapolated from traffic to two sites in particular - bit.ly and tinyurl.com.

These services are employed by mobile surfers in particular because they compress URLs to fit neatly inside messages sent via SMS (160 characters) and Twitter (140 characters). TinyURL now ranks in the top 200 most visited sites, according to Novarra.

Interestingly, page views of Twitter grew 3,500 per cent in Q1-Q2 2009. Commenting on the figures, Randy Cavaiani, a marketing vp with Novarra said, “The growth in mobile traffic to sites that shorten URLs demonstrates that Twitter is a great viral tool for exposing consumers to new and interesting content.

Much of the content shared this way is from ‘long tail’ sites that are personally relevant and important to consumers and their circle of friends,” he added.

Cavaiani didn’t venture to explain how the likes of TinlyURL, BitLy or even Twitter are going to be able to monetarise this success.

Tony is based in Surrey and is a veteran comms journalist. Tony also writes on the UK market…. contact him here tony@mobileinsight.co.uk.