Not all Bitly users are utilizing them for good factors. Some individuals utilize them to conceal nefarious links. Fortunately, there is an easy way to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking the link. The trick is to simply include 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 initial link was..
You can try this technique with a URL that I recently shortened. 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 original discussion URL and see when I created the shortened URL..
Watch this brief video to see how you can utilize the “+” technique to discover whats concealed behind a Bitly link..

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

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. It has actually been used without authorization if you see it somewhere else.

Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive used for numerous years. As a signed up user I can produce customized, shortened URLs that people can actually spell. I use these whenever I require to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation due to the fact that the default URLs provided by those services are always long and incoherent..

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

Heres a video overview of how to see whats behind a TinyURL without really clicking on the link.

Applications for Education.
Structure excellent digital citizenship and cyber safety skills is something that all of us must be assisting our students do. Showing them little suggestions like this one to prevent clicking on suspicious links is one of the manner ins which we can assist our trainees build their digital citizenship and cyber security skills.

Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive used for many years. There is an easy way to rapidly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without in fact clicking on the link. The technique is to simply include 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.