This post initially appeared on FreeTech4Teachers.com. It has been used without authorization if you see it elsewhere. Sites 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 registered user I can create custom, shortened URLs that people can in fact 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 constantly long and incoherent..

Applications for Education.
Building excellent digital citizenship and cyber security skills is something that all of us must be helping our trainees do. Revealing them little suggestions like this one to avoid clicking on suspicious links is among the manner ins which we can help our trainees develop their digital citizenship and cyber safety skills.

Bitly is a helpful URL shortener that Ive utilized for numerous years. There is a simple method to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without in fact clicking on the link. When you add the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly rather of to whatever the initial URL was.

Sadly, not all Bitly users are using them for great factors. Some people utilize them to hide dubious links. Luckily, there is a simple way to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking the link. The technique is to simply add a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you add the “+” the URL will reroute to Bitly rather of to whatever the initial URL was. That will then reveal you the Bitly page on which the reduced URL is hosted and will show you what the original link was..
You can try this technique with a URL that I recently reduced. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I used in 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 created the reduced URL..
Enjoy this short video to see how you can utilize the “+” trick to find out whats hidden behind a Bitly link..