Ive produced a couple of short video presentations of how this technique works. This is the Instagram video that I made about it. This is the YouTube video that I made about it.

You can try this with my Bitly link of.
bit.ly/ 2ZZnuP2 which will take you to the registration page for my Practical Ed Tech Newsletter (.
https://practicaledtech.com/weekly-newsletter/). If you attempt the exact same link however add “+” to the end of it so it checks out like this.
bit.ly/ 2ZZnuP2+ you will go to the Bitly page where I reduced my initial URL.

Bitly is a convenient tool for producing short URLs to share in place of long URLs. Ive utilized it for years to develop customized URLs that are easy for my students to type. Sadly, some individuals utilize Bitly to attempt to mask URLs to attempt to get you to click on dubious links. Thankfully, there is a simple way to see where a Bitly link will take you without needing to really click on the link..
The trick is to just 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 reveal you the Bitly page on which the shortened URL is hosted and will show you what the original link was..