Getting Started with ThingLink: A Simple First Project for Educators

Louise Jones October 14, 2025

ThingLink is a fantastic tool for creating interactive and immersive images, videos, and virtual tours. It allows you to bring visuals to life by adding hotspots, interactive tags that include text, media, links, transit you to other ThingLink scenes and more!

If you’re new to ThingLink and want to get started, this post will walk you through a simple mini project that helps you (and your students) explore its core features.

Quick Start Video

Watch this quick start video from our support team to help you become familiar with the ThingLink Multimedia Editor

Step 1: Choose an image that’s in your context

Start by adding hotspots (tags) to an image that is in your context

Here are a few ideas:

• An image of a poster on your classroom wall or infographic
• An image from our library, a place or space relevant to your topic
• A photo of a real-world space (like a lab, museum, or landmark)

This image will be the base media, or foundation, for your first interactive ThingLink project!

Here’s a ThingLink to show you the six different Tag Types in action

Step 2: Add a Text and Media Tag

Your first hotspot could be a Text and Media Tag. Click on your image and move the position of the hotspot to your preferred place.

This incredibly versatile tag allows you to add:

• A heading and a short paragraph explaining the topic or context.
• An additional image (or video) you can easily search for free images directly from Unsplash within ThingLink.

💡 Example: On a photo of a historical landmark, add a text and media tag describing when it was built, and include a period photograph from Unsplash. Where you place the Tag is important, it could relate to the point you wish to emphasise on the image! The icon you choose for your tag is also important, choose the most fitting icon for the subject / content of your tag!

💡 Helpful Tip! You can also use AI to generate your tags for you, but knowing how to create a tag from scratch means you will become a ThingLink maestro in no time!

Step 3: Add a Call-to-Action Button

Next, try adding a call-to-action (CTA) button in your Text and Media Tag

This button links out to any web resource, perfect for extending learning. You can link to:

• A website
• A presentation or document
• A form

💡 Example: Add a CTA button linking to a wikipedia page about the topic.

Step 4: Customize Your Tag and Explore Tag Settings

Here you can manage the look and feel of your tags and additional features that can align with your purpose, such as locked tags (open in order) and guided mode with tags that flash in sequence.

Click ‘done’ on the tag editor view and choose ‘settings’.

In the Settings you’ll find additional options, click on Tag Customization

Try a few customization options

• Change the custom color of your tag icons
• Change the font of the text in your text and media tags
• Toggle on ‘large popup window’

Step 5: Add an Embed Tag

This is where you can make your ThingLink come alive.

Use the embed tag to insert other media directly into your image. You can embed many kinds of content, but be mindful that YouTube may be blocked in some schools.

If that’s the case, try embedding Google Maps instead:

1. Go to maps.google.com
2. Search for your place
3. Click Share → Embed a map
4. Copy the HTML embed code
5. Paste it into your ThingLink embed tag

💡 Example: On a geography map, embed a Google Map of the location being studied.

Step 6: Check Privacy Settings

Click ‘Done’ on the editor, and click on the eye icon top right, here’s you can hange the privacy settings and select’ anyone with the link’.

Step 7: Share your first mini project!

Click the share tab and select share with the link, you now have the link ready to paste in another tab or with someone else.

That’s It! You’ve Made Your First Interactive ThingLink!

By the end of this mini project, you’ll have explored the main types of hotspots and learned how to bring an image to life with interactive content.

You can now start thinking about how your students might use ThingLink to explain processes, annotate artwork, create virtual tours, or build digital portfolios. Why not try another type of base media, the foundation of your projects. Here’s another ThingLink to show you the various types of media.

Don’t forget to have fun! Be playful with your creations

There’s lots of support for you in our support section, you can’t go wrong.

If you have any questions about how immersive learning or XR experiences could work in your school, district, or classroom please do get in touch!

Check out our brand new fabulous, and free, course on Extended Reality (XR) Click here XR Expert Course

You are also welcome to join our communities, meet other ThingLink creators and share ideas. Links for you here: XR Expert community on LinkedIn, Facebook Education, YouTube or follow us on Instagram