This post originally appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. It has been used without consent if you see it somewhere else. Websites that routinely steal my (Richard Byrnes) work include CloudComputin, TodayHeadline, and 711Web.

Applications for EducationAs I wrote last week, constructing great digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities is something that everyone ought to be helping our students do. Revealing them little suggestions like this one to avoid clicking suspicious links is among the methods that we can assist our trainees build their digital citizenship and cyber security skills.

The trick is to add a “+” to the end of any TinyURL address in order to arrive at a safe TinyURL page that reveals what the original link was that got shortened. You can then decide if you desire to click through to the location or not.
If you wish to try this with a TinyURL, tinyurl.com/emkns9a8 will lead you to the page for the Practical Ed Tech Virtual Summer Camp, but 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.

Ive attempted the “+” trick with a lot of other URL reducing tools and TinyURL is the only one besides Bitly that Ive discovered it to work with..
Whats the trick?

The trick is to add “+” to the end of the Bitly URL to see whats behind it without clicking on it. A couple of people emailed me to ask if the that worked with other URL reducing services. If you see it elsewhere, it has been used without approval.

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

Last week I composed
an article about how to see whats concealed behind a Bitly shortened URL without really clicking the link. The technique is to include “+” to the end of the Bitly URL to see whats behind it without clicking on it. A couple of people emailed me to ask if the that worked with other URL reducing services. The answer is it deals with
TinyURLs..