It took New York to create a Philly URL shortener

Let’s give credit where credit’s due.
While they’ve been blowing out coverage of local real estate issues, the Philly edition of Brownstoner brought something else to the table. They’ve introduced a Philly-specific URL shortener, ph.ly.
We’re a little shell-shocked that the 67th ward beat us to it, but it’s certainly a novel idea.
Like traditional URL shorteners, ph.ly lets users enter a URL to be shortened to the four-character domain for short messaging services like Twitter. Users can track total clicks, or stats over the last month or week. More features are expected, like compatibility with Twitter. Only thing that’s missing—but available in services like tinyurl—is the ability to provide your own link name instead of random character generation.

We reported on Brownstoner’s expansion here—from its native Brooklyn—in April. Since, the site has received a fair amount of buzz for its coverage of Philadelphia.
Last May we reported on another shortener, isNSFW, which allows users to rate how offensive their link might be. The service, created by Willow Grove’s Toad Software, provides a splash screen indicating content that is offensive or contains gore or nudity.
We’re not sure how ph.ly could break it down. We’d say a splash screen for each neighborhood, but let’s get those borders right first.