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

Bitly is an useful URL shortener that Ive utilized for many years. There is a simple way to quickly determine whats behind a Bitly URL without really clicking on the link. When you include the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly rather of to whatever the original URL was.

Applications for Education.
Structure great digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities is something that everybody need to be assisting our students do. Revealing them little pointers like this one to avoid clicking on suspicious links is among the manner ins which we can assist our students construct their digital citizenship and cyber safety abilities.

Bitly is a helpful URL shortener that Ive used for several years. As a registered user I can produce custom, reduced URLs that individuals can really spell. I utilize these whenever I need to share a link to a Canva or Google Slides presentation due to the fact that the default URLs supplied by those services are always long and incoherent..

There is an easy way to quickly identify whats behind a Bitly URL without actually clicking on the link. The technique is to simply include a “+” to the end of any Bitly URL. When you include the “+” the URL will redirect to Bitly instead of to whatever the initial URL was.
You can try this technique with a URL that I just recently shortened. Bit.ly/ THWTAPRIL will lead you straight to a copy of the slides that I utilized in my recent 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 shortened URL..
View this brief video to see how you can use the “+” technique to learn whats hidden behind a Bitly link..