I’ve been playing recently with a “supercharged 301” app, which allows you to create a 301 redirect (like bit.ly and similar), but crucially has a few key features:
- You define where the link goes – e.g. to a therapist or a support service.
- You can define the number of times the link can be clicked before it redirects somewhere else. Once is usually the use case – the link only works for the first person to click it.
- You can define how long the link lasts for before expiry.
- If either the maximum clicks or the time limit has been reached, the link goes to a different URL of your choosing, eg. a local restaurant.
- You can receive an email the moment it’s clicked, with a little bit of information about the click (timestamp, user agent, etc).
The idea is that you can send a link to someone, and even if someone is snooping on their messages, as long as they do it after your recipient has used the link, all they’ll get to is to something innocuous like a cafe’s website, or an interesting article. The actual link you sent them may have been to a reproductive health services site, or similar. And if someone clicks it before the recipient does, you’ll get an email letting you know, with a timestamp and device information.
Have a play at 301er.io and let me know what you think.
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