diff --git a/public/javascripts/app/views/content_view.js b/public/javascripts/app/views/content_view.js
index 69f811461..c616392b2 100644
--- a/public/javascripts/app/views/content_view.js
+++ b/public/javascripts/app/views/content_view.js
@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ app.views.Content = app.views.StreamObject.extend({
       text = text || ""
       return mentionify(
         hashtagify(
-          markdownify(text)
+          urlify(
+            markdownify(text)
+          )
         )
       )
     }
@@ -34,11 +36,18 @@ app.views.Content = app.views.StreamObject.extend({
           return person.diaspora_id == diasporaId
         }).id
 
-
         return "<a href='/people/" + personId + "' class='mention'>" + fullName + "</a>"
       })
       return text
     }
+
+    function urlify(text) {
+      var urlRegex = /[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]{2,256}\.[a-z]{2,4}\b(\/[-a-zA-Z0-9@:%_\+.~#?&//=]*)?/gi
+      return text.replace(urlRegex, function(url) {
+        var protocol = (url.search(/:\/\//) == -1 ? "http://" : "")
+        return "<a href='" + protocol + url + "' target=_blank>" + url + "</a>"
+      })
+    }
   }
 })
 
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/app/views/post_view_spec.js b/spec/javascripts/app/views/post_view_spec.js
index d36581de9..f4fc85d44 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/app/views/post_view_spec.js
+++ b/spec/javascripts/app/views/post_view_spec.js
@@ -126,6 +126,23 @@ describe("app.views.Post", function(){
       })
     })
 
+    context("generates urls from plaintext", function(){
+      it("works", function(){
+        links = ["http://google.com",
+                 "https://joindiaspora.com",
+                 "http://www.yahooligans.com",
+                 "obama.com",
+                 "japan.co.jp"]
+
+        this.statusMessage.set({text : links.join(" ")})
+        var view = new app.views.Post({model : this.statusMessage}).render();
+
+        _.each(links, function(link) {
+          expect(view.$("a[href='" + link + "']").text()).toContain(link)
+        })
+      })
+    })
+
     context("user not signed in", function(){
       it("does not provide a Feedback view", function(){
         window.current_user = app.user(null);
diff --git a/spec/javascripts/support/jasmine.yml b/spec/javascripts/support/jasmine.yml
index ad92fb19a..1b8eb2ce2 100644
--- a/spec/javascripts/support/jasmine.yml
+++ b/spec/javascripts/support/jasmine.yml
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ src_files:
   - public/javascripts/app/models/*
   - public/javascripts/app/collections/*
   - public/javascripts/app/views/stream_object_view.js
+  - public/javascripts/app/views/content_view.js
   - public/javascripts/app/views/*
 
   - public/javascripts/mobile.js