Unfortunately, not all Bitly users are using them for great reasons. Some people utilize them to conceal wicked links. Thankfully, there is a simple method to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The technique is to simply add a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly instead of to whatever the initial URL was. That will then show you the Bitly page on which the reduced URL is hosted and will reveal you what the original link was..
You can try this trick with a URL that I just 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 original presentation URL and see when I developed the reduced URL..
View this short video to see how you can utilize the “+” trick to learn whats hidden behind a Bitly link..

Bitly is a convenient URL shortener that Ive utilized for several years. As a signed up user I can produce customized, reduced URLs that individuals can really spell. I utilize these whenever I need to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation due to the fact that the default URLs offered by those services are always long and incoherent..

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

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

Applications for Education.
Building excellent digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities is something that everybody must be helping our trainees do. Revealing them little ideas like this one to prevent clicking suspicious links is one of the methods that we can help our trainees build their digital citizenship and cyber security skills.

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

Bitly is a convenient URL shortener that Ive used for many years. There is a simple method to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without really 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 redirect to Bitly rather of to whatever the initial URL was.

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 including a “+” at the end of that TinyURL will take you to the page where you can see the original link without clicking on it.