Bit.ly is a URL shortener service. Basically, that means they let you take a big, long, messy Web link (like the ones you find on many forums, blogs, and websites) and give you a shorter version that you can share more easily.

These short URLs are especially great for sharing stuff to Twitter where the 140 character limit gets eaten up quickly by longer page links. We also like to use it for email or Facebook sometimes when the link we want to share has too many parameter tentacles and looks ugly.
As an example, here's the short version of this blog page URL that some of you may have clicked to get here:

http://goviral.at/c3mVLt

Note: We're using Bit.ly Pro to replace the "bit.ly" part with "goviral.at" instead; short for "Go viral at..." which we at least hope is kind of obvious! =) Yes, it's a little longer than the bit.ly version, but it makes us all warm and fuzzy inside and always reminds us of the never-ending quest for more viral content!

The problem for Bit.ly in the predatory world of "Internet Land" is that the kings of industry are defined by "he who gets the most hits". Up until now, bit.ly played the role of delivery boy sending users immediately off to the web page of the long version of the link... without having them stop by to say "Hello" first.

The actual visits the bit.ly website gets are by the users who are coming to shorten their long links or to check basic stats such as the "number of clicks" previously shared links have received in total.

So if Bit.ly was a little sick of having users click "over" them to go to another site, they've just introduced a new feature called Bit.ly "Bundles" that will help bring them more traffic directly to the bit.ly website first. Once there, users will browse around a bit, and check out links in the bundle including summary info for each one before going on their merry way. Users can also comment on the bundle using the DISQUS commenting system or share the bundle directly to Twitter.

For link sharers, this is a great new feature that lets us package multiple page links all into one bundle that can be shared with a single link. For bit.ly, it's a chance to make their site a bit more of a destination, aka racking up more landing page hits. While seeing
"bit.ly" in the short URLs is great for branding, having Web visitors
arrive directly at the bit.ly website is a much more valuable goal.

Two gorilla thumbs up to Bit.ly for a practical yet very valuable new feature that is great for users... and also just so happens to be a great strategic move for the Bit.ly team. =)