A German man with a typewriter is responsible for the entire existence of URL shorteners. Here’s how:

25 years ago, Friedhelm Hillebrand sat at typewriter in his home in Germany and typed out sentences and questions. Eventually he realized that most lines ended up with less than 160 characters. He decided that this number, 160, was “sufficient” for text based communication.

Hillebrand also happened to be the chairman of the nonvoice services committee in the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM). He pushed for, and got, the 160 character limit that we still use for SMS messaging on phones today. Unintentional Consequences

Moving forward a few years, a little site called Twitter decided that it was going to set it’s status update message size at 140 characters. Why? Because they wanted users to be able to see status updates on their cell phones via text message. Therefore to get the users name plus their message, they had to cut the length.

As Twitter grew, it’s purpose, focus, and usage changed to the point where sharing links became a major element of the service. However, many URLs were too long to include in tweets with any type of context.

Enter services like bit.ly or tinyurl which exist to substitute long URLs with short ones, making it possible to include in tweets.

And there you go. German man with typewriter to SMS character limit to Twitter character limit to bit.ly.

Here’s the original article from 5/09 in the L.A. Times with more background, etc.

If you haven’t seen it yet, take a few minutes and go check out The Wilderness Downtown. It’s an interactive film/music video by Chris Milk featuring the Arcade Fire’s “We Used To Wait”.

It’s also the coolest thing you’ve seen in a browser in a long time.

What Milk, Arcade Fire, and a team at Google have done is create something that blurs the line between tech-demo and art. It’s really a little of both. Not only does it showcase the power of technology in creative hands, but it shows people that staying on top of new developments in markup and it’s capabilities is for more than just code-monkeys.

However, there is one area where this otherwise awesome effort falls a little short: connectedness.

If I want to learn more about Arcade Fire, where are my links to Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.? Where’s the link to the iTunes store to check out more of their stuff?

If I want to learn more about HTML5, where are the links to code repositories, tutorials, and discussion forums where coders are exploring all of the new possibilities?

I know this wasn’t built to be a marketing vehicle, per se, but by not providing any ability for users to follow up or learn more they’re really missing out on a great opportunity to capture some good vibes.

How’s your mind? Blown?

Good For: Long-form content. Deep, detailed, insightful writing. Extensive discussion.

Not So Good For: Spur of the moment and mobile posting.

Verdict: A blog is at it’s best when it can showcase a clear, well defined thought, however it’s also the most versatile of the tools and can be used for just about anything.

Tumblr/Posterus

Good For: Shorter posts. Photo blogging. Spontaneous and mobile content.

Not So Good For: Robust feature sets. Design possibilities (Posterus).

Verdict: Great for shorter, more spontaneous posting with good “on-the-go” options. Think of it as Blogging-Minor

Twitter

Good For: Real-time interaction. Quick thoughts. Content sharing (links, photos, videos, etc.). Making connections.

Not So Good For: Well thought out posts/content. Comprehensive arguments.

Verdict: Great for interaction, not so much for content.

Video Platforms (Youtube, Vimeo, etc.)

Good For: Dynamic content. Showcasing personality. Conveying energy and spreading a message.

Not So Good For: Discussion. Scannable content.

Verdict: The most dynamic of all mediums, but limited in that it’s not scannable or as easily digestible as others.

Social Networks (Facebook, Ning, etc.)

Good For: Making connections. Maintaining a community. Organizing an effort.

Not So Good For: Posting content. Thought leadership.

Verdict: The best at connecting and organizing, but limited in a content publishing dimension.

Not too long ago, David Armano (who I’m pretty sure coined “Flashturbation”) pointed out that one of his favorite agency sites is the not-too-old overhaul from The Barbarian Group because of their simplified scheme. Even outfits like Big Spaceship (pictured below), which make their name with the high-end Flash stuff they do, have reverted to a more “blog like” design and navigation. Maybe with Big Spaceship it’s like when you work at an ice cream shop all summer, the last thing you want to eat is ice cream.

Either way, I both understand and respect the route that both of those shops has chosen. They provide a high quality site and a good experience, and that’s what it’s really all about in the end. We’re really building experiences. And who says that a Flash experience has to be a bad one? Look at the (national award winning) website for ad agency Hook by my friends at Blue Ion. It manages to deliver a good user experience, along with a visually engaging and exciting interface.

And that’s why I think we need Flash. Because with Flash, you get the “wow” moments, and that’s what pushes us forward. Don’t get me wrong, I love the usability factor with blog-like designs, and good god is it easy to screw up Flash, but when it’s right, it can be great.

So heed my words internet citizens. Don’t hate the Flash. If we kill the stigma, maybe some of the good designers and developers will keep on rocking, and pushing the envelope.

The first type we’ll call a “closed query” because it has a definite answer. These are questions like:

• What’s the number of the nearest Chinese restaurant?
• Who was the lead singer of Twisted Sister?
• What’s the MSRP of a new Toyota Camry?

The closed query is very straightforward, easy to define, and can usually be answered by Google or Wikipedia in a few minutes. Not much else going on. Unless you’re planning on a street fight for internet search supremacy, these kinds of queries really shouldn’t worry you. Just make sure that you’re information is easy to find (and be “find” I mean “be indexed”).

The other (more interesting) type of query is the “open query” and unlike the closed query, there’s no definite singular answer here. Some examples:

• How can I learn to break dance?
• What are some easy salmon recipes?
• What is the meaning of life?

And unlike closed queries, open queries aren’t linear. They look more like this.

As you can see, open queries are more involved. However, the key difference isn’t the amount of information, or the number of points. The key difference is that there is no definite Point B. Point B is a state of mind.

If you set out determined to know more about break dancing, when have you achieved that goal? Unlike in closed queries, where the answer is always “Philadelphia” or “19.99″, your level of understanding that characterizes your Point B may be a completely different level than mine. The other major difference is that Point B is not the end. The Point B you’ve arrived at today may be different than your Point B two weeks from now.

So what does this mean? Well for starters, unless you’re answering a closed query, you need to stop thinking of your content as a destination and more as a part of the process. I understand the pressure for better time-on-site, page views, etc. but really, shouldn’t we be focused on providing information someone is looking for and then sending them on their way to learn more?

Who would you think more favorably of? A site where you spend 10 minutes trying to find what you’re looking for and eventually give up or a site where you spend 2 minutes learning something and then move on to the next resource they suggest?

There should be no dead-ends on the internet.

This is totally ridiculous.

While showing up in Google is certainly important, it’s far from the be-all end-all, oh. my. god. you should probably quit the internet right now, kind of deal. Seriously.

Don’t believe me? Pinch yourself, wave to your dog, call your mother, scream “PC’s Rule!” in a room full of Mac fanboys. And the verdict is, you most certainly do exist.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, on to the next problem. Showing up on Google.

First things first, I might as well state the obvious: you can’t show up in Google if you don’t have a website. No excuses here. Making yourself a home on the web is easy, free, fun, and beneficial, so there’s really no reason not to do it. Check out Blogger or WordPress to fire up a blog for free or Squidoo and Twitter for a more varied approach. It doesn’t take long to hang out your shingle on the web, and if you’re at the point where you’re reading this blog, I’d be surprised if you don’t have something going already.

Which brings me to the next important point: how to get that something in the right place in the Google search results. This, my friends, is the entire goal of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). And for this I point you to people who do this for a living. I’d start by checking out the posts below on how to get rolling with SEO.

- The Bloggers Guide to SEO – SEO Book
- SEO for Blogs – Problogger
- Beginners Guide to Search Engine Optimization – SEOmoz

So the moral of the story is, if you’re not dominating the search results on Google right now, don’t worry. Put in some good effort and give it a little bit of time and you’ll start showing up in the right places

Sad thing is, once you hit the site the jig is somewhat up. No more mystery after that. Clearly ABC is shooting for some sort of viral initiative here, and it will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Oh well, just like LOST, we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
::cue dramatic cut to black::

Also, I highly encourage you to put your revisions/additions in the comments (oh how web 2.0 of me!)

Blogs – Like online journals that put new content first.

Craigslist – Just like newspaper classifieds, but online.

del.icio.us – Let’s you attach keywords called “tags” to sites. Like putting post-its in a magazine.

Digg – Someone submits a story, and if you like it you vote for it. The stories with the most votes end up on the front page.

Facebook – It’s like an online personal directory where you can connect with people, share photos, join groups, etc.

Feedburner – Lets you manage and track your blog’s RSS feeds.

Flickr – It’s an online photo album that you can share with other people.

Friendfeed - Makes it so your friends can’t pick their nose without you knowing.

Google Docs – Lets multiple people edit a text document that’s saved online.

Last.fm – Internet radio that plays music based on your prefrences.

LinkedIn – It’s like your business Rolodex, but online.

MySpace – You know your hot friend? Well this is her fat ugly cousin.

NetVibes – Lets you pick a home page with the content you want (also see iGoogle).

RSS – It’s like an email subscription that goes to your reader instead of your email account.

Squidoo – Easily build one page on a topic.

StumbleUpon – You pick categories and it takes you to a random page. If you like it you give it a thumbs up.

Technorati – Ranks and indexes blogs based on “authority”. Shows most popular blogs.

Threadless – T-Shirt company that relies on it’s active community.

Twitter – It’s like mass text messaging but you choose whose messages you see.

Wikipedia – Just like a regular encyclopedia, but one that anyone can edit.

YouTube – A free place people can put videos online.

But then Bezos does something interesting and incredibly smart. He acknowledges the community by showcasing a big picture of a Kindle-shaped cake he found on the internet, saying “I found this delectable-looking Kindle cake on the web – it’s the ultimate geek compliment!”

With this simple picture and link he turns the standard CEO line into something fun and engaging. Clearly Bezos is paying attention to whats being said (and baked) about Amazon and it’s products.

Are You?