Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive utilized for lots of years. There is a simple way to rapidly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. When you add the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly instead of to whatever the initial URL was.

Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive used for several years. As a registered user I can produce custom, reduced URLs that people can really spell. I use these whenever I need to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation since the default URLs offered by those services are always long and incoherent..

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

There is an easy method to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The trick is to merely include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly instead of to whatever the original URL 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 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 produced the shortened URL..
View this brief video to see how you can utilize the “+” trick to learn whats concealed behind a Bitly link..

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