The difference between Twitter and bit.ly is that Twitter users greatly benefit from the network effects of having all the people they care about on Twitter.
With bit.ly it doesn't matter at all if I use the same URL shortening service they use or not. The second something better comes along, or Twitter decides to switch to something else, or they attempt to monetize it by inserting ads or something there will be a mass exodus.
Of course there's always the possibility that the bit.ly folks pitched some grand vision we don't know about to their investors.
On a related note, I have a feeling our reliance on URL shortening services is going to bite us in the ass in the future. When one of these service goes out of business you're left with thousands or millions of essentially dangling pointers. It also throws a monkey wrench into PageRank type algorithms.
With bit.ly it doesn't matter at all if I use the same URL shortening service they use or not. The second something better comes along, or Twitter decides to switch to something else, or they attempt to monetize it by inserting ads or something there will be a mass exodus.
Of course there's always the possibility that the bit.ly folks pitched some grand vision we don't know about to their investors.
On a related note, I have a feeling our reliance on URL shortening services is going to bite us in the ass in the future. When one of these service goes out of business you're left with thousands or millions of essentially dangling pointers. It also throws a monkey wrench into PageRank type algorithms.