A Great Online Automation Tool You Should Be Using
Like many Internet users, I manage many online tools at one time, each for a variety of specific purposes. Automating some of those online tasks is a great way to save time and ensure that nothing is overlooked. That's why I've been using IFTTT (If This Then That).
IFTTT has a simple and straightforward concept: Whenever you make one action, then it automatically triggers another action of your choosing. These triggers are called "Applets" and you can configure them in a number of different ways. You can find inspiration by watching IFTTT tutorials on YouTube.
Here's how I'm currently using IFTTT to automate some of my online tasks:
Save Favorite Tweets Directly to Evernote
When I'm on Twitter, I use the "Like" function to save articles and information for future reference, or I use it to bookmark articles I want to read at a later time. That's pretty convenient, but what isn't very convenient is trying to find those bookmarked articles later, when they've been buried in a thousand other "Likes."
To make my Twitter likes more searchable, I created an IFTTT applet to automatically save those bookmarked posts into Evernote, in a notebook labeled "Favorite Tweets." Now when I want to go back and read that in-depth article on Alfred Hitchcock's career, I can search Evernote for "Hitchcock" and the original tweet pops right up.
Save Tweets Directly to Google Drive
As I started to become more involved on Twitter, I realized that I needed a way to archive and manage my posts for later reference. That's why I created an Applet that will automatically take a tweet and add it to a Google Drive spreadsheet. Now the post itself, along with metadata like date and time, is cataloged and searchable within the spreadsheet.
Cross-Post Instagram Photos to Twitter
You can easily share your Instagram photos to Twitter the moment you post, but the resulting tweet only contains a link to your Instagram picture. The photo itself isn't embedded in the tweet. If you're a marketer selling a product, you might want to cross-promote your Instagram images on Twitter and have those same images appear in the tweet itself. You can do this with IFTTT. I have an applet running that will simultaneously upload an image to Twitter the moment I upload it to Instagram.
There are hundreds of ways to use IFTTT to automate tasks. I encourage you to browse through the Discover section of their website, or you can read this Gizmodo article to help get you started.
How are you currently using IFTTT? What applets do you recommend? As always, leave your thoughts in the Comments section.