Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive utilized for several years. As a signed up user I can produce custom, shortened URLs that people can really spell. I utilize these whenever I require to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation because the default URLs offered by those services are constantly long and incoherent..

Bitly is a convenient URL shortener that Ive utilized for many years. There is a simple way to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without in fact clicking on the link. When you add the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly instead of to whatever the original URL was.

Not all Bitly users are using them for great factors. Some people utilize them to hide nefarious links. There is a simple way to rapidly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The technique is to just add a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute 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 initial link was..
You can attempt this trick with a URL that I recently reduced. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I used my recent Intro to Teaching History With Technology webinar. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL+ will lead you to the Bitly page where you can see my initial presentation URL and see when I created the reduced URL..
View this short video to see how you can use the “+” trick to learn whats hidden behind a Bitly link..

Applications for Education.
Building good digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities is something that all of us ought to be assisting our trainees do. Showing them little suggestions like this one to prevent clicking suspicious links is one of the manner ins which we can assist our trainees develop their digital citizenship and cyber security skills.

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