[thekungfuman]

Hasn't this been around for quite some time? g.co links are used on all of the official Google twitter accounts.

[kevinpacheco]

You'll also get a g.co link if you click the link icon in Google Maps and then tick the Short URL box. http://g.co/maps/s6hjr

[jonursenbach]

This has been around since at least 2010.

[Peroni]

July 2011 actually.

http://googleblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/gco-official-url-sh...