Bitly is a helpful URL shortener that Ive used for lots of years. There is a simple way to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without in fact clicking on the link. The trick is to simply add 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.

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

This post initially appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it elsewhere, it has actually been utilized without permission.

If you want 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 on it.

Unfortunately, not all Bitly users are using them for great reasons. Some people use them to hide dubious links. Thankfully, there is a simple method to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. The trick is to merely add 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. That will then reveal you the Bitly page on which the reduced URL is hosted and will reveal you what the initial link was..
You can try this trick with a URL that I recently reduced. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you directly to a copy of the slides that I used in my current 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 created the shortened URL..
Watch this brief video to see how you can use the “+” technique to discover whats hidden behind a Bitly link..

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

Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive utilized for several years. As a registered user I can develop custom-made, shortened URLs that people can actually 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 supplied by those services are constantly long and incoherent..

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