It was recently reported that URL shortening platform bitly has just raised $20 million in a round of funding, roughly double it garnered last time around. Bitly had been the default URL shortener on Twitter since 2009, replacing TinyURL, until Twitter introduced its own shortener called t.co in 2010. With the new funding, it was said that users should expect to see a host of new functionality.

Now bitly has launched a redesign, described on its blog. Users can now:

– Easily save, share and discover links — they’re called bitmarks, like bookmarks.
– Instantly search your saved bitmarks.
– Curate groups of bitmarks into bundles and collaborate on bundles with friends.
– Make any bitmark or bundle private or public.
– See what friends are sharing across multiple social networks, all in one place.
– Save and share links from anywhere with our new bitmarklet, Chrome extension and iPhone app.

The new ‘bitmarks’ are bitly’s version of internent bookmarks, which can be organized into bundles for sharing on Facebook, Twitter and email, or kept private. The screenshot below describes how bitly bitmarks and bundles are shared:

Users can log into bitly via Facebook or Twitter, which makes the sharing of bitmarks very easy:

Entire bundles can also be shared, and likewise set to private. Bitly has also incorporated real-time search into its platform.

Bitly has also announced its first app for iPhone, along with an extension for Google Chrome. It would appear that the aforementioned funding round will be going a long way.