IFTTT, Revisited

In the summer of 2013, I wrote a post about If This, Then That.  I mentioned the site a lot of times that summer, actually.  It was a bit of an obsession.  IFTTT is such a great way to automate online tasks and I wanted to tell the world about it.  I was recently reminded via Twitter (thanks Kelly!) that a follow up might be in order.  So, here you go!

At the time of my first post, there were 69 available channels on IFTTT.  There are now 148.  That’s a lot more services that you can link together to make your life easier.  Some of my favorites include Android (photos, location, notifications, device, phone call and/or SMS), Buffer, Date/Time, Evernote, Google Calendar, Pocket, Todoist and Dropbox.

I won’t go into how to set up an IFTTT recipe; it’s pretty self explanatory on the site and I wrote about it in my previous post.  There’s a huge catalog of published recipes one can browse, but I usually just create new ones.  If you know exactly what you want, I find it just as easy as browsing or searching. I do want to share some of the recipes I’m currently using on IFTTT.  I decided I wanted to be more intentional and personal with my social media, so I no longer directly link the Relishment’s RSS feed to Twitter and Facebook.  Instead, I’m using one of my new recipes below.

A few of my current favorite ways to use IFTTT:

Brian and I don’t have a landline phone. It’s New England in the winter. There’s a good chance that one of these days we’ll have a snow day. This recipe causes my ringer to turn on in the wee hours of the morning, allowing me to avoid late night text messages from friends, but making sure I get those snow day calls.

This is the recipe I’m using to help me personalize my social media outreach.  Instead of auto-posting, this recipe adds a reminder with the link to my latest post to my Todoist list and a note to remember to tag any relevant accounts in my post.  The next day, when I’m working on my tasks, I remember to share the info on social media.

It was recently recommended to me that I use native Twitter pictures instead of links to Instagram (which is what happens when you share to Twitter from Instagram).  This recipe takes care of that.

I’m good at saving emails to follow up on.  I am less good at the actual follow up.  I’m much better at paying attention to Todoist (have I mentioned that I love Todoist lately?  I actually just signed up for a Pro account!)  Now my starred emails end up on my to do list.

I’m also working on focusing on single tasks at a time. (I need A LOT more practice in this area, but IFTTT is helping!) If I see a tweet with a link that looks interesting, I send it to Pocket to read later instead of clicking over to read it immediately.

Are you an If This Then That user?  Are you using any awesome recipes? As much as I love the site, I know I’m not taking full advantage of it.  Please share your tips in the comments below!