Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive utilized for several years. As a signed up user I can produce custom-made, shortened URLs that individuals can in fact spell. I use these whenever I require to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides discussion since the default URLs offered by those services are incoherent and constantly long..

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

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

Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive used for lots of years. There is a simple way to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. The trick is to just include 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 desire to try 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 it.

Applications for Education.
Building good digital citizenship and cyber safety skills is something that all of us should be assisting our students do. Revealing them little tips like this one to avoid clicking suspicious links is one of the ways that we can help our trainees construct their digital citizenship and cyber safety skills.

This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it somewhere else, it has been utilized without consent.

Sadly, not all Bitly users are using them for great reasons. Some people use them to hide dubious links. There is a simple method to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. The technique is to merely include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you add the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly instead of to whatever the original URL was. That will then show you the Bitly page on which the shortened URL is hosted and will reveal you what the initial link was..
You can try this trick with a URL that I just recently shortened. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you directly 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 produced the reduced URL..
View this short video to see how you can utilize the “+” trick to learn whats hidden behind a Bitly link..