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The popular website has long offered the option to turn long URLs into shorter, more user-friendly addresses which are easier to read and enter.

This has made it very popular within print publications including the Times and the Guardian, which both use it to list longer URLs in print.

The service is also used in many applications online where users want to hide the exact URL contained in a link until after it has been clicked.

Previously the service generated only a random string of alphanumeric characters, but users can now choose a custom address, just as long as it has not been previously used.

This story for example, can be reached from both www.pcpro.co.uk/news/211035 and tinyurl.com/pcprostory

Tiny URL claims that more than 90 million URLs have been entered into its database so far, and that the site receives over 1.5 billion hits per month. The site generates revenue from adverts hosted on the homepage.