rdd.me: A New URL Shortener With Built-In Readability

Readability, the service that reformats websites for distraction-free reading, just launched rdd.me, a new URL shortener. Even though there are already plenty of choices out there for shortening long domain names, this new one is worth a look. Once your friends click on an rdd.me link, they will either get a link to turn on the distraction-free mode above the regular website if they are on a desktop, or immediately see a Readability-enhanced view if they are using a mobile device.

Given that the extension will still show the full website with all its ads and distractions most of the time, I would think that most publishers will have no issue with this service (and Readability also has a program that compensates publishers,too).

One major issue, though, is that rdd.me doesn’t currently feature a bookmarklet or browser plugin that would make shortening links easy. The developers promise to at least offer a bookmarklet in the next few days, but for the time being, you have to either use the regular Readability extension first and then use the share button from within the Readability view to get the link, or head to rdd.me and copy and paste the links there.

If you’re really serious about your social media metrics, you probably won’t like rdd.me, as it doesn’t offer any of the statistics that Bit.ly and Co. offer.

For those who are already big users of the Readability extension, though, rdd.me is definitely worth a look.