Field notes
Playbooks, teardowns and the occasional argument — everything we have learned helping creators grow across every major platform.
A universal link opens the app when it is installed and the website when it is not. A scheme URI opens the app or does nothing at all — silently.
Some of these identify a person, not a campaign. igshid names the account that shared, mc_eid names the subscriber — and YouTube's t must never be stripped.
Every platform publishes embed code and most hide it. Here is where each one keeps it, when to use an iframe instead of a script, and what to do about consent.
Seven platforms let you build a short link from a URL. Five only issue one from their own share sheet. Everything else calling itself a shortener is a redirector.
A shortened link tells you nothing about its destination. Here is how to expand a short URL safely, read the redirect chain, and spot the hop that breaks tracking.
YouTube has its own short domain, youtu.be. Here is how to build one from any link shape, and why copying the timestamp across usually breaks it.
Every platform treats a link differently. Here is what happens to a social media link once you post it, and the four decisions worth making first.