This post initially appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. It has actually been used without consent if you see it in other places. Sites that routinely steal my (Richard Byrnes) work include CloudComputin, TodayHeadline, and 711Web.

There is a simple method to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The trick is to merely 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.
You can try this technique with a URL that I recently shortened. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I used my current 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 produced the reduced URL..
See this short video to see how you can utilize the “+” technique to find out whats concealed behind a Bitly link..

Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive used for many years. There is an easy method to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly rather of to whatever the original URL was.

Bitly is a helpful URL shortener that Ive utilized for numerous years. As a signed up user I can develop custom, reduced URLs that individuals can in fact spell. I use these whenever I require to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides discussion due to the fact that the default URLs supplied by those services are incoherent and always long..

Applications for Education.
Structure good digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities is something that everybody must be assisting our trainees do. Revealing them little ideas like this one to prevent clicking suspicious links is one of the methods that we can assist our students build their digital citizenship and cyber security abilities.