Creating a top URL shortener has the bling chasers in Silicon Valley coding like mad. One of my favorite’s is ”ow.ly“.

Why ow.ly? Two reasons:

1. the ow.ly url itself is super short.

Twitter power users know the importance of limited link size in a 140 character world.

2. ow.ly’s innovative.

By taking 30 seconds to set up a free ow.ly account, my ow.ly shortcuts become branded to me.

How? Ow.ly places a thin ”HootSuite” toolbox at the top of the visited page with a recognizable version of my Twitter profile image and a link to my full Twitter profile. The toolbox also includes uber convenient widgets for users to Follow, re-Tweet, Share,  or see Top Tweets. This helps me extend my “web_tomatoes” branding, is helpful to my audience, and way, way viral.

Since we’re talking about Hooters and Owls, let me end with this ow.ly link example:  http://ow.ly/oSyp.