How to use if-this-then-that (IFTTT) to achieve social media zen



Contributing Writer
Photo: Sunset Dance Credit: asmorod


If-this-then-that (IFTTT) is a tool that uses triggers from one of your online accounts to prompt action in another channel.  It has been around for awhile, and although I use it for specific tasks I always felt like there was a greater purpose that I was missing.  I think  I may have figured it out.

If you’re familiar with David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” methodology, you understand that in order to process tasks effectively everything has to flow into an inbox.  But with emails. Facebook messages, Twitter messages, LinkedIn messages, RSS  (on and on) – it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of everything that’s incoming, organize it and respond in a timely manner.  There are third party solutions that will organize parts of this, but they may just end up being another platform to learn on top of the platforms that you already aren’t keeping up with.

Enter IFTTT.  By using their “tasks” to trigger events on other platforms – you could set up a centralized inbox for all of these messages in one place.  Say social media is a necessary evil for you, but you’re constantly on email.  You could forward all of your social media updates to your email account and deal with them in one centralized place.  Say you’re on Facebook all of the time.  You could forward all of your emails and other messages to your inbox (even using your @facebook account if the spirit moved you).  IFTTT has the potential to harness all of these wayward social accounts and bring some order to the chaos – and for all of the other cool things that it can do that may be its greatest benefit.

I started writing a post about how Yammer’s integration with IFTTT changed my view of the Microsoft acquisition.  My premise was that if they integrate Outlook and their Office suite into Yammer as a means to collaborate, IFTTT could effectively bridge generation and skill gaps to enhance the value of the premium Yammer offering.  But I realized that the benefit that IFTTT presents isn’t exclusive to Yammer or Microsoft.  IFTTT has the potential to offer familiarity and accessibility to a host of channels that people either are unfamiliar with or just don’t care for.

I hope that businesses start to see the potential of IFTTT for on-boarding employees who are reticent to participate in social as well as to help to manage their time most effectively when using social platforms.  A small bit of accommodation could lead to rich contributions, courtesy of the cool tool with an acronym as its name.

 

This is a short how-to video on IFTTT  by Joe Newman, British boy genius


Follow Joe on Twitter:


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Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

Writer and chief of miscellany at leaderswest.com

I aspire to give people something to think about rather than tell them what to do. My favorite Google Alert is “social media research,” I am increasingly compelled by Gen Z, and I appreciate good writers agnostic of where they write. At one time I was Kred’s 12th most influential social media blogger and Klout’s most influential person on the topic of David Hasselhoff. Transplant from Seattle living in Cincinnati. Haven’t entirely adopted the local sports teams yet.

Jim Dougherty

@jimdougherty

Writer about social media and tech at Leaders West, I also tweet as @leaderswest.

Facebook advertising strategy, the “no-bull****” approach. http://t.co/8FxCBv6MjA – 18 hours ago

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

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  • Lorenzo

    These pre-fabricated tweets to actual people is exactly what social media is NOT about. Tasks, etc I get. Posting to people based on this is lazy and fake. Boo.

  • http://leaderswest.com Jim Dougherty

    Thanks for reading and commenting, Lorenzo. I understand your point of view, but from my perspective I want to understand how a business can maintain a small affinity group of thousands of people through social media. You have 4000 followers on Twitter and have sent fifteen tweets out today, so the likelihood that you’ll have that affinity with your audience is lessened by the fact that you’re not engaging with them. What you call laziness I call efficiency (though I don’t advocate auto-response tweets in this piece or in general). The point of the piece was to show that a tool that could consolidate social platforms into the most familiar could on-board people hesitant to adopt, so I don’t understand how you got to your conclusion. I do think IFTTT is one of the most important third-party tools out there and you could probably benefit from it while maintaining your sensibility. Cheers!

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