Bitly moves into the bookmarking biz, aiming to stay relevant

Bitly is expanding its link-shortening service to include bookmark features, which will allow users to save and share links as the happy pufferfish -- Bitly's mascot -- looks on.

"We want this to be the single best place for you to save and share your links and to discover interesting things from your friends and the entire web," the site's blog announced today.

The move is designed to diversify its business away from just solely shortening URLs and move towards more social-networking services, the company said, adding it plans to add future services down the line. The site faces possible irrelevance now that Twitter offers its own URL-shortening feature.

Dubbed a bitmark, the feature also comes with a new interface that allows users to add notes to links and set them to public or private. You can also see your profile details and stats by clicking on tabs on the top of the page.

The site has also ramped up its bundle feature interface, according to the post. Users can organize links into buddies and share bundles with other people in their network.

And on top the site changes, the company has launched its first iPhone app, a Chrome extension and a bitmarklet, which is a shortcut that can be added to the browser.