Long URLs cut into character limits, are difficult to remember, and simply look awkward.  Quite a little industry has sprung up in response.  Only it looks like a major player is now entering the game, as a URL shortener created by Facebook has been sighted.

Ryan Spoon first wrote about links built around the characters "FB.me" this weekend.  Since, then, more and more examples have been found, and although Facebook has yet to announce anything official, there's no reason to believe that FB.me won't go live for everyone at some point.

This could spell doom for entities like Bit.ly, Is.gd, and Ow.ly.  FB.me works as a standard shortener, but with the backing of Facebook, it's likely to prove more reliable, and will also have a marketing/name recognition head start.

Then it's got one extra trick: as Saad Kamal noted, "[I]f your Profile URL is say - http://www.facebook.com/Starbucks, now you can even write it as http://fb.me/starbucks and it will still go to the exact same page."

Of course, Facebook isn't guaranteed victory in the URL shortener field.  Aside from the existing competition, it's possible that Google (or Goo.gl, if you like) will act as a rival.

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