Clearly, people on Twitter enjoy reading about common PR career misconceptions. I know this because I’ve started to Tweet links to my posts using the free link-shortener and tracker called bit.ly. It makes your link smaller, thus, Twitter-friendly. And after you share your link, you’ll be able to see in real-time how many people click on that link, when it is re-Tweeted and by whom, and when it’s shared on Facebook and Friend Feed. Like this:

If you work at a place (or for clients) who demand metrics, bit.ly gives you the data you’ll need to see how much traction your message is getting.

Or not.

I don’t always get that kind of re-Tweeting/clicking action off of one Twitter link. The fact that the PR Misconceptions link is so popular on Twitter helps me understand what kind of posts you want to read–clearly, how-tos, career stuff and tips–as opposed to this post that didn’t teach anything; it wasn’t so popular on Twitter:

The coolest part is that when other bit.ly users link to your stuff via this service, they’ll have their own bit.ly link, but you’ll still be able to see who is using bit.ly to drive traffic to your post and how many clicks they get. Keep in mind that if your readers use other link shorteners like tiny url or Cli.gs, those links will not show up on your bit.ly dashboard.

I honestly couldn’t care less about the brand of link-shortener you use; just use one.  Every Tweet has the potential to provide a case study on what works, but you’ll never know until you track.

Post idea hat tip: Jon. Good one, man.

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