How can You Know Where A Shortened URL Leads To Without Clicking

I am sure you remember the days of using the tinyurl service where you can shorten a long and verbose URL   into a shorter and succint one. In recent times, these URL shortening services are becoming more useful because of the popularity of Twitter and its 140 character limit that it imposes on users.

Example of a shortened URL used in a Tweet

If you are wary about where clicking the link may lead you to, you can make use of an online service called Where Does This Link Go?. The service is simple to use. Just copy and paste the URL into the text box and click on Expand.

Copy and pasting the shortened URL and click Expand

You will see the expanded version of the shortened URL immediately. Now, you can decide if you want to click through. As an exercise, try to identify this link http://bit.ly/16AtJWi, which is the my blog post.

After expansion, you can see that the shortened URL is coming from the authors website

Use this for shortened URL that you find dubious, and it might just save you an unwanted trip to a malicious site or two. If you have found this short post useful, please share it with your network.