Although Tiny.url was the first URL shortening service back in 2002, several other competitors - all using ad revenue to pay for the facility - have entered the URL shortening marketplace.
Bit.ly said it has been able to expand its operations this year thanks to two million dollars of venture capital financing, allowing it to launch URL analytics for users - and is now phasing in three security features for its users.
The first is VeriSign's iDefense IP reputation, which blacklists those domains that are know to contain exploits, malware and other internet security problems.
The second is the Websense Threatseeker Cloud, which will analyse the web content being routed to by a Bit.ly URL and, using real-time analysis, claims to block any suspicious activity.
The third service is being supplied by Sophos, which is providing a behavioural analysis facility that looks at users' activities on the Bit.ly service and pro-actively looking for malware and spam.
In a blog posting announcing the new services, Bit.ly said that it is "delighted to working with best-in-class partners like VeriSign, Websense and Sophos".
"The team here at Bit.ly remains committed to transparency. If you're concerned about any given Bit.ly link, you can add a `+' sign to the end of the URL to see more information about it, or download our preview plug-in."