What’s Hidden Behind a Bitly Link?

Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive used for numerous years. There is a simple method to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. When you add the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly rather of to whatever the original URL was.

Regrettably, not all Bitly users are using them for good reasons. Some people use them to conceal wicked links. There is a simple method to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without in fact clicking on the link. The technique is to merely include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you add the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly instead of to whatever the initial 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..
You can try this technique with a URL that I just recently reduced. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I used 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 presentation URL and see when I developed the reduced URL..
See this brief video to see how you can utilize the “+” technique to find out whats hidden behind a Bitly link..

This post initially appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. If you see it somewhere else, it has been used without consent. Websites that frequently take my (Richard Byrnes) work consist of CloudComputin, TodayHeadline, and 711Web.

Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive used for several years. As a signed up user I can create customized, reduced URLs that individuals can actually spell. I utilize these whenever I need to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides discussion since the default URLs provided by those services are always long and incoherent..

Applications for Education.
Structure good digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities is something that everybody need to be assisting our trainees do. Showing them little ideas like this one to prevent clicking suspicious links is among the manner ins which we can assist our trainees build their digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities.

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