IFTTT Twitter channel diminished due to API changes



Contributing Writer
IFTTT Twitter channel Photo: Danger Sign Credit: Nicolas Raymond


IFTTT Twitter channel is one of the most powerful channels on the IFTTT (if-this-then-that) service.  Facebook levies a penalty on a third-party posts, leaving the Twitter channel arguably the most powerful mainstream social channel available through IFTTT.  Unfortunately, IFTTT CEO Linden Tibbets announced in an email yesterday that the IFTTT Twitter channel will be diminished on September 27th.

What features will diminish on the IFTTT Twitter channel?

Any recipe on IFTTT that uses a “Twitter trigger” (the “if” in IFTTT) will be discontinued.  People that use the IFTTT Twitter channel to back-up their tweets, receive emails or the myriad other things IFTTT might do with a tweet will lose those capabilities.

The IFTTT Twitter channel is probably a bellwether for other apps that use the Twitter API to view tweets.  A rule of thumb would be if you can see a tweet in a third-party app, you probably won’t be able to see it much longer.  And IFTTT’s situation is probably an example of the situation facing many third-party providers: the benevolent Twitter allows them 100,000 tokens or double the amount that they currently have (whichever is greater), but then writes their API terms to exclude off-site content consumption.  Bad Twitter.

What features remain on the IFTTT Twitter channel?

The good news is that recipes using Twitter “actions” are still allowed (the “then” in IFTTT), and that’s a huge automation resource.  Many people are using IFTTT as a de facto autoresponder, and I’m not sure how effective that is.  But to be able to tweet, Buffer a Tweet and do whatever else you want to with generated content is really powerful.

The worst consequence I could foresee with Twitter’s API ramp-down was diminishment of Buffer or IFTTT’s capabilities to Tweet.  And it looks like they both are going to come out of this with the capability to Tweet.  Diminishments aside, that’s a very good outcome.

Are you using IFTTT?

If you’re not familiar with IFTTT, I want to share my two cents about why this is such an extraordinary tool.

IFTTT gives you the capability to connect fragmented social networks into something cohesive.  For instance, you can add a hashtag to Yammer to tag a note for mass-distribution through Twitter.  You can lessen the learning curve of social networks by sending updates to an email account (though not Twitter anymore)…. and send emails to update social networks.  It is an essential tool not only for community managers but for anyone using any software greater to or equal to email.

I use the IFTTT Twitter channel to autoshare blog posts from RSS feeds.  You get 1000 tweets a day, so for me it is an easy way to show appreciation for people’s content.  I even have a public recipe for leaderswest:

leaderswest IFTTT Twitter

(If the spirit moves you to use that recipe and promote the site, don’t forget to drop me a note so that I can reciprocate)

I also use the email channel to schedule recurring emails, I also share some stuff on Facebook, I share all of my posts on app.net, LinkedIn, on my personal Facebook and Facebook page.  Without any additional action after setting these up.

The power of IFTTT is extraordinary, limited only to your imagination and an if-then statement.

Is this it?

It’s possible that Twitter could further restrict IFTTT or other tools, but it seems that they decided that cutting off publishing is unnecessary if all consumption has to happen within the organic Twitter network.  With Fox News reporting that Twitter is considering an IPO in a year, the pressure is on to show advertising effectiveness or suffer the fate of Facebook.

In any case, the lesson of the IFTTT Twitter channel being diminished is that it could have been worse.  I’m disappointed to see it that way.

Photo Credit

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.

Infographic: How to optimize photos for Facebook’s News Feed http://t.co/6OkhbTRkb0 – 12 hours ago

Jim Dougherty

Jim Dougherty

  • http://cashwithatrueconscience.com/rbblog Ryan Biddulph

    I’ve seen the Facebook penalty Jim. It’s why I post to a large number of groups manually. Even though all post show I simply get more clicks by posting by hand. Personal touch.

  • Andrea Naomi

    I’m actually shamelessly in love with IFTTT, I even use it to send myself e-mail reminders to stay on task…Infact, I did a video on it sometime last month http://youtu.be/8io48pv4EAs. I have to agree with you about Twitter’s behavior being influenced by the impending IPO – it seems to be the driving force behind its automation awkwardness (e.g. TweetAdder, etc.) which honestly is a little unbecoming especially when we think about Twitter’s former API liberalism. Anyway great post and thanks so much for sharing.

  • jimdougherty

    Shamelessly in love with IFTTT – too bad you didn’t copywrite that because that’s how I’m describing my feelings towards IFTTT now!!! Thanks so much for your insight and for reading, Andrea!

  • jimdougherty

    Great insight, Ryan. I think many people have the same experience. The penalty according to Hubspot is 1/3 reach so you are savvy to do so. That said, for some automation through IFTTT or Buffer makes sense despite the penalty. Thanks for your insight and for reading!

  • http://cirquedumot.com/new-readers/ Susan Silver

    This is so confuzzling, I missed the email about this. Wondering if this means that I will no longer be able to favorite stuff to readability. This made my life very easy when it came to keeping up with industry blogs.

  • http://www.eahelp.com/ Tricia Welte

    I love IFTTT, but this announcement will eliminate a ton of my recipes I use. BOOO to Twitter.

  • http://barrettrossie.com/ Barrett Rossie

    This is all news to me Jim. I’m off to look up this stuff. :-) Thanks for sharing it.

  • Andrea Naomi

    Totally glad to relinquish any rights Jim just consider it an unselfish marketer act :)

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