It used to be the case that when you wanted to manage several online profiles and social media outlets you manually needed to copy and paste messages and updates between the separate accounts. IFTTT takes this arduous and sometimes complicated endeavor and simplifies it so that users either choose or create recipes based on a trigger. A trigger can be anything that happens via the supported ‘channels’. An ‘action’ is the resulting action, also relating to a ‘channel’. So, (literally) ‘If (some thing happens), Then (some other thing should happen)’. ‘Channels’ are compatible sites and services that IFTTT has made agreements with. The current available channels are listed below:
Before a channel can be used it must be activated. This may require login information, or verification with the targeted channel. After providing the necessary information to activate a channel, you may then build or choose a ready-made recipe to use.
As I stated at the top, Triggers and Actions! Here are the recipes that Experience Points is currently using:
Effectively, these rules should take content (this post for instance) and broadcast it to Facebook, as well as Twitter! And, that’s pretty cool! Lets face it; no one wants to take a lot of time to echo the same message across social media. So yeah, IFTTT is cool for spreading whatever word you have across the internet, but it doesn’t stop there! Look at the channels again. iOS Location, Phillips Hue, Weather, WeMo… Imagine the possibilities!
[UPDATE: Separate recipes are needed for WordPress -> Twitter. IFTTT will not echo the post that the IFTTT system has posted using the WordPress -> Facebook recipe.]
If you aren’t using IFTTT I urge you to give it a try. If you do try it, comment below or on Facebook! It’s free, and can take some of the hassle out of the internet grind. I use it personally, and for Experience Points, and it helps boost my productivity. I don’t have statistics on how much of a boost, but it must be at least 1200% … Math.