This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without permission.

Sadly, not all Bitly users are using them for good reasons. Some people utilize them to hide wicked links. There is a simple method to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The technique is to merely include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly rather of to whatever the initial URL was. That will then show you the Bitly page on which the shortened URL is hosted and will reveal you what the original link was..
You can attempt this technique with a URL that I just recently shortened. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you directly to a copy of the slides that I utilized 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 reduced URL..
See this brief video to see how you can use the “+” technique to learn whats concealed behind a Bitly link..

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

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

Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive used for lots of years. There is an easy way to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without in fact clicking on the link. The technique is to just add a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you add the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly rather of to whatever the initial URL was.

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

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 initial link without clicking it.

Bitly is a helpful URL shortener that Ive utilized for numerous years. As a signed up user I can produce custom-made, shortened URLs that people can really spell. I utilize 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 incoherent and always long..