Are short links hacks or what?

[NarutoAddict77]

Just wondering, because when I go on youtube videos I see in the description very short links and something seems fishy about them because most links are like soooooooo long.
Here is an example of one I most recently found. Idk what it leads too but If I click it will it hack my computer?
http://full.sc/vYZavv

[Arie]

Short links have been created for services such as Twitter, since people are limited there in the amount of characters which they can use in one message. Short links are therefore not necessarily a security risk. Thing is though that you do not know what it will link to, but the same goes for any link which you click, you never quite know where you will land. Every website may contain malware, so always be careful, even when clicking on a link which looks legit. Keep your operating system, applications and anti-virus solution up to date, as malware often exploits outdated applications, bugs in operating systems, et cetera. So in short, short links are fine, but keep an eye out for suspicious websites as you would always.

[minetooine.com]

There are several services out there that shorten addresses to these little links, they came about so that you dont misspell things and they can be put in things like twitter and facebook easily. So for instance if you wanted to look at a site (and this isnt real just an example) like http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment/...&pageid=20 odds are you would make a mistake somepoint so its much easier to take this long address using a service like tinyurl and change it to tiny.url/1Ui993 because you can remember that and use it anywhere.
Thats all, and if you were on twitter you probably wouldnt have many characters left from your 140 if you used the real address!
Most are safe, but make sure you know where it comes from, the problem with these shortened ones is that lots of malware use them as you cant tell where they go before its too late...