IFTTT: If This Then That

If you have noticed that this blog started publishing Instagram images, then I am here to tell you that it is the result of an webapp automating service.

IFTTT (If Thus Then That) lets you create "recipes" of connections among your web applications. What it does is that you can ask IFTTT to do something to one of your online tools when a condition is matched on another site.

The recent instagram posts on my blog is a good example. I create a recipe such that: if I share a new photo on instagram, then it shall be automatically posted to my blog.

There are various ways to customise the action depending on the tool. IFTTT offers several predefined "ingredients" to ease the creation of the actions. You can also customise your own.

The types of apps that can be connected depends on the API that is enabled by these apps. As of now, most of the popular sites are enabled. For instance, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Evernote, Google, Wordpress, LinkedIn, Skydrive, Dropbox, Instagram. Visit their website for a full list and also ideas on how to connect to one another. You can also share your recipes to the community, and likewise, you can also use the recipes shared by others.

IFTTT can potentially be a security risk, subject to hacks or service downtime. But at the end of the day, any tools that are used wrongly may have negative results.