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

Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive used for several years. As a signed up user I can create custom-made, reduced URLs that individuals can in fact spell. I utilize these whenever I require to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation because the default URLs provided by those services are incoherent and always long..

There is a simple way to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. The trick is to just include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you add the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly rather of to whatever the original URL was.
You can try this trick with a URL that I just recently reduced. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I utilized 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 shortened URL..
View this short video to see how you can utilize the “+” technique to learn whats hidden behind a Bitly link..

Applications for Education.
Building good digital citizenship and cyber security abilities is something that everybody need to be assisting our students do. Revealing them little pointers like this one to prevent clicking suspicious links is one of the manner ins which we can help our trainees construct their digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities.

Bitly is a handy URL shortener that Ive used for lots of years. There is an easy way to rapidly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. When you add the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly instead of to whatever the original URL was.