.NET Short Unique Identifier
I use a similar approach as Dor Cohen's but removing some special characters:
var uid = Regex.Replace(Convert.ToBase64String(Guid.NewGuid().ToByteArray()), "[/+=]", "");
This will output just alphanumeric characters. The UIDs are not guaranteed to have always the same length. Here is a sample run:
vmKo0zws8k28fR4V4Hgmw
TKbhS0G2V0KqtpHOU8e6Ug
rfDi1RdO0aQHTosh9dVvw
3jhCD75fUWjQek8XRmMg
CQUg1lXIXkWG8KDFy7z6Ow
bvyxW5aj10OmKA5KMhppw
pIMK8eq5kyvLK67xtsIDg
VX4oljGWpkSQGR2OvGoOQ
NOHBjUUHv06yIc7EvotRg
iMniAuUG9kiGLwBtBQByfg
This one a good one - http://www.singular.co.nz/blog/archive/2007/12/20/shortguid-a-shorter-and-url-friendly-guid-in-c-sharp.aspx
and also here YouTube-like GUID
You could use Base64:
string base64Guid = Convert.ToBase64String(Guid.NewGuid().ToByteArray());
That generates a string like E1HKfn68Pkms5zsZsvKONw==. Since a GUID is always 128 bits, you can omit the == that you know will always be present at the end and that will give you a 22 character string. This isn't as short as YouTube though.