The technique 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 in other places, it has been used without permission.

Ive tried the “+” technique with a bunch of other URL reducing tools and TinyURL is the only one besides Bitly that Ive discovered it to deal with..
Whats the technique?

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

The trick is to include a “+” to the end of any TinyURL address in order to arrive at a safe TinyURL page that exposes what the initial link was that got shortened. If you want to click through to the destination or not, you can then choose.
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, but 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 EducationAs I wrote last week, building excellent digital citizenship and cyber security abilities is something that everybody ought to be assisting our students do. Showing them little ideas like this one to avoid clicking suspicious links is among the ways that we can assist our trainees build their digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities.

This post initially appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. It has been used without approval if you see it elsewhere. Sites that frequently steal my (Richard Byrnes) work include CloudComputin, TodayHeadline, and 711Web.

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The technique is to include “+” to the end of the Bitly URL to see whats behind it without clicking on it. A few people emailed me to ask if the that worked with other URL reducing services.
TinyURLs..