IFTTT - One of the best tools on the web!

Since I’m on my way to the California Google Summit and I’m currently 10,000 feet in the air, I thought I would write about one of my favorites tools on the web. The tool is IFTTT.com (If This Then That).

Technology is wonderful and for the most part I’m pretty savvy. I use many different tools on a daily basis and try to reduce duplication as much as possible. For instance, I want to write a blogpost and have it automatically tweet out, post to facebook, and possibly email a mailing list. Now, I know that I can manually do all of these items but I want automation to make life a bit less cluttered.

Sometimes, I want to something difficult but realize I don’t have the time nor the technology expertise to pull it off. Luckily, the service IFTTT provides that bridge for average tech users to the world of automation. IFTTT uses recipes (just like what you have in your kitchen except replace food with tech), to help users automate workflow. Here is an example:

This recipe is simply taking articles from my RSS reader (Feedly) and saving them automatically to Pocket. All I needed to do is authorize both services to allow IFTTT to work it’s magic.

IFTTT has thousands of recipes for you to search and select but you can also use your imagination to pull off some custom workflow that meets your needs. I may want to choose to post a tweet of any photo that I like on instagram. Very easy to walk through the steps and create the automation.

IFTTT also has just released a new iOS app which allows you to create recipes specifically for your iPhone.  

Here are some of my favorite recipes on IFTTT:

• If I tag an article in Feedly with a specific tag, then post to Twitter
• If I upload new photos to instagram, then upload to Flickr
• If I create a new blogpost, then tweet the link on Twitter
• If I upload a photo on facebook, then upload it to Picasa Web Albums (Google+)
• If I text a specific number, then I will receive a call to allow me to escape (Text to Escape Recipe)

Ok, that last one is just for fun but it could be useful as well. Have fun with this site! One of my favorites!