Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive utilized for numerous years. There is an easy way to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The trick is to simply include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you add the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly instead of to whatever the original URL was.

If you wish to try this with a TinyURL, tinyurl.com/emkns9a8 will lead you to the page for the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp, but including a “+” at the end of that TinyURL will take you to the page where you can see the initial link without clicking it.

As I do every year, Im taking this week as a break from releasing brand-new article and will be republishing a few of the most popular posts of the year. Heres one from April.

Heres a video introduction of how to see whats behind a TinyURL without actually clicking the link.

Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive used for many years. As a registered user I can create customized, reduced URLs that individuals can actually spell. I use these whenever I require to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation since the default URLs supplied by those services are always long and incoherent..

Applications for Education.
Building good digital citizenship and cyber security skills is something that all of us must be assisting our trainees do. Revealing them little suggestions like this one to prevent clicking suspicious links is among the methods that we can assist our students build their digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities.

Not all Bitly users are utilizing them for good reasons. Some individuals use them to hide nefarious links. There is a simple method to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The technique is to merely add a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly instead of to whatever the original URL was. That will then reveal you the Bitly page on which the reduced URL is hosted and will show you what the original link was..
You can try this technique with a URL that I recently reduced. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I used in my recent Intro to Teaching History With Technology webinar. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL+ will lead you to the Bitly page where you can see my initial discussion URL and see when I created the reduced URL..
View this brief video to see how you can utilize the “+” technique to find out whats concealed behind a Bitly link..

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