We get questions like how can I update Facebook from my WordPress blog. Or how I can automatically tweet every time I publish a new blog post. There are many plugins for that, but we're about to show you a method that doesn't require any plugins. IFTTT is a robust service that allows you to create simple "if this" actions. If you can think of an action (trigger), then you can make IFTTT do something else (re-actions) as a result. While it's impossible to fully automate WordPress and social media, IFTTT truly puts the internet at your fingertips. In this article, we'll show you how to automate WordPress and social media with IFTTT.
IFTTT stands for "if this is that". It is a service that allows you to create powerful actions using triggers and actions. The following image will explain everything:
This service goes beyond WordPress. You can select one of the many available channels to automate your online life. You can automatically tweet your new posts. You can automatically share your new posts on Facebook page or profile. You can pull posts from RSS in WordPress, etc. Below is a list of the few channels they have:
If you don't like the video or need more instructions, continue reading.
Go to IFTTT and create your account. IFTTT works with all WordPress.org self-hosted blogs (version 3.x and higher) and also with WordPress.com blogs. You MUST have XML-RPC enabled to work with IFTTT.
Go to Settings »Write and enable XML-RPC
Once you've done that, you're ready to use WordPress as the trigger.
Below is a list of possible use cases with WordPress. For more information on the IFTTT Wordpress channel.
And the list could probably go on. By the way, many of them could also be reversed in order. For example, RSS to WordPress, Twitter to WordPress, FB to WordPress, etc.
IFTTT is a great tool, and we can see a lot of good things coming out of it. Just from the list above, you can easily remove some plugins you might be running on your site and have IFTTT perform those tasks. How are you going to use IFTTT? Will you use IFTTT? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
