If This, Then That

Alex Newby, Marketing Intern

If This, Then That?

“If This, Then That” (IFTTT) is a new site dedicated to creating chain reactions throughout your social media accounts and programs. These chain reactions, called recipes, set in motion a list of actions once you trigger the first one.  Designed to help “put the internet to work for you, “ IFTTT is a new way to cut back on the steps and time you spend doing simple tasks online. https://ifttt.com

Before you can fully understand IFTTT, you have to learn the lingo.

Channel – Channels, as IFTTT puts it, are the “basic building blocks” of this process. Examples of Channels are Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, and Blogger. There are over 50 different channels to choose from!

Trigger - A trigger is the “this” part of the recipe.  In other words, it’s the beginning action. Examples are “If I change my Facebook status…” or “If someone new follows me on Twitter…”

Action- As you can guess, the Action is the “that” part of the recipe. It’s a result of whatever your trigger was. Examples of actions are, “Sends me a text” or “ Follow the person back.”

Polling Period – The If this, then that “polling period” is the time it takes IFTTT to recognize that the trigger has happened. Personal Recipes will check for updates every 15 minutes!

So you got the lingo down. Now how do you use it?                                                                                            

To start using IFTTT, students can go to the website and create an account. From there, you are free to explore the hundreds of pages of popular recipes. Whether you’re interested in apps like Dropbox or sites like Craiglist, IFTT can help you find recipes to help make your life easier.  You can also download the IFTTT app.

One of our favorites is: If you’ve lost your phone, you can send an email to IFTTT with the hashtag #lostphone and IFTTT will call the phone to help you find it! 

Here are some other popular recipes and the ones that we’ve found useful at The Study!

• If you post a new Instagram à IFTTT can automatically upload it to your FLICKR or Tumblr
• If a tweet has a certain hastagà IFTT can download it and save it into Dropbox
• If it’s going to rain à  you can receive a text message
• If you add a tweet to your favorites list à IFTT can automatically save it in Evernote
• If someone new follows you on Twitter à Your account can automatically follow them back
• If you favorite Blogger site posts a new blog à You can receive an email or text
• Mark on your schedule that rent is due à Receive a text or email every month reminding you about rent!
• Send a text to IFFTà Receive a phone call! (Great for getting out of awkward situations!)
• If you change your Facebook profile picture à IFTTT can change your Twitter profile picture as well
• Anytime you write a new post on Blogger à The blog can download into Dropbox