Google has just launched Goo.gl, the official Google URL shortener of the world’s largest search engine. The Google Toolbar and the FeedBurner syndication service now utilize Goo.gl for link sharing.

People share a lot of links online. This is particularly true as microblogging services such as Twitter have grown in popularity. If you’re not familiar with them, URL shorteners basically squeeze a long URL into fewer characters to make it easier to share with others. With character limits in tweets, status updates and other modes of short form publishing, a shorter URL leaves more room to say what’s on your mind — and that’s why people use them. They said on their blog announcement.

 However, there is nothing to to be happy, since Google URL shortener is not a stand-alone service i.e., you can’t use it to shorten links directly. Currently, Google URL Shortener is only available from the Google Toolbar and FeedBurner.

With limited space for tweeting, the URL shortener business has boomed, currently Bit.ly was leading.
Side by side with Google’s URL shortner, Fb.me is also showing up in several tweets. However, it’s unclear how long fb.me has been in operation.