Sometimes automating your Social Media is a good thing – and other times it is not. Facebook has announced (a long time ago) that it will discount posts that are generated by tools in their algorithm that determines if your posts get seen in others news feed or not. However taking a post you made in Facebook and sending it elsewhere can be very useful and save time. If This Then That is a tool that allows you to program what it does.
For Example, If I post an image in Facebook then take that image and post it to Twitter. The tool can be used for more than Social Media too. You can send an event to your email, text message, EverNote, etc.
Partial List of available Channels:
Bit.ly
Blogger
Box
Buffer
Campfire
Craigslist (get an email sent to you when an item you are looking for gets posted)
Dropbox
Email
Evernote
Facebook
Facebook Page
RSS feed
Flickr
Foursquare
Gmail
Google Calendar
Google Drive
HootSuite
Instagram
LinkedIn
Skydrive
Tumblr
Twitter
YouTube
There is a total of 69 different Channels you can set up a Recipe (If This Then That statement) for. Not all of them work in both directions so you will have to try it out and see if what you want to happen can be programmed. From what I can tell checkin sites like FourSquare are not available for the receiving end of the Recipe.
How is this different that HootSuite?
Tools like HootSuite pull in the feeds from your Social Media sites and display the conversations that are happening. They also allow you to program future posts. If This Then That is action triggered – you do something (like a status update) then something else happens automatically.
Ideas for using If This Then That
Upload a Video on YouTube and automatically send it to Vimeo
Connect common Social Media sites (there are many tools to do this however)
Checkin with Foursquare and send that information to your Google Calendar
Take a photo on FourSquare and send it to Flickr
Set up Craigslist to email you when a specific items comes up for sale
Email yourself your iPhone photos
When your Facebook profile picture changes then update your Twitter profile picture
Dotty Scott, Owner of Premium Websites, LLC and AskDotty.com
Dotty is a website designer, business owner, and educator for Digital Marketing. She enjoys empowering other business owners to take control of the technology used in their business. She teaches Online techniques in an easy to understand language.
Dotty also love photography, hiking, camping, and family time.