If This Then That (known as “IFTTT“) is one of those free services that makes life easier. We all have routine tasks which keep our lives going. Sometimes, those routines involve small things which take little time. Added together, small things can become big things.

What if you could put some of those tasks on “autopilot“? Here are some examples:

• I want to check the weather each day, and it would be nice if the forecast arrived in my email.
• If I add an event to my Google Calendar, I want to let my wife know.
• If I post an image with a particular tag to Instagram, I want that image to also post to Twitter and/or Facebook.
• If one of my scheduled blog posts appears, then update Facebook.
• If one of my scheduled blog posts appears, then update Twitter.
• If the time is 7:00AM on a weekday, then I want a phone call to wake me up.
• If Alabama scores, then I want to get a text message.
• If I get an email with an attachment, then make a copy of that attachment in Dropbox.
• If I make or receive a call on my mobile phone, then log the call in a spreadsheet.

Getting Started With “If This Then That”

This video explains the basics of If This Then That:

After signing up for a free account, you can explore the “applets” others have crafted (such as having the weather forecast emailed to you each day).

Posting from Instagram to Twitter: The Problem

Do you have both an Instagram and Twitter account? Do you often wish to post to Instagram and have your post also appear on Twitter? Experienced users already know the problem: What appears on Twitter is a link to the Instagram photo. People have to click the link to see the photo. That’s a step too many for most of us.

Here is an example of the problem. I post on Instagram and click the button to share on Twitter. Here is the result:

IFTTT Offers a Solution:

I created an applet in If This Then That: If I post to Instagram, then post to Twitter.

The interesting thing was that not only did the post appear on Twitter, but the picture appears…not just a link to the picture.

This one applet is significant. Even social-media savvy people are mostly unaware that this capability exists.

One of the examples in the video is posting from Instagram to Twitter, and it goes a step further. Suppose, you don’t want everything you post to Instagram to appear on Twitter. IFTTT allows you to use certain hashtags to trigger the applet.

Just a Few Examples

This post and the video give you a few examples of how you can use IFTTT to automate routine tasks. Explore the examples and use some of the ideas you see there. Use your imagination and create your own. Let technology handle the repetitive tasks so that you can focus on the bigger game.