Category: Post

If I said to you “ifttt” then you’d probably think I was slurring some random letters around to express my dislike for something.

Actually “ifttt” stands for “If This Then That”. ‘But what is ifttt?!’ I may here you cry!

ifttt is a web app that puts “the internet to work by creating tasks”. The tasks follow the formula ‘if this, then that’.

I found ifttt when Vic from Staffs Union started using it to tweet when he had a new follower. I also saw some others using it to tweet specific things but I’ve found a more creative use for it!

ifttt tasks are built up by using channels to configure triggers and actions. There are currently 39 channels that you can configure, including the usual suspects of Twitter, Facebook and Gmail. There’s also some interesting ones like date & time, SMS and phone calls!

One that interested me was the triggers linked to your Last.fm account. Every time you scrobble a track to Last.fm you can trigger a channel action.

I’ve wanted to display the music that I listen to on my website for quite a while. Until recently I had Twitterfeed take my Last.fm RSS feed and tweet it to a Twitter account that I used just for that. I then displayed that Twitter timeline in a WordPress widget. It was a fairly long way round of doing it and sometimes I didn’t have the effect I wanted.

I figured that with ifttt and some goodies from Tumblr I would be able to show off my latest scrobbled tracks as well as their album covers in a slightly easier way.

So I attached my Last.fm account to ifttt, then set up a Tumblr blog called What Oliver Listens To. I had learnt when I put together Stoke CU’s media page that you can embed a tumblog using a bit of Javascript found on their Goodies page. It comes with no styling and just some Tumblr classes with which you can play with.

I told ifttt that when I scrobble a track, it should post a photo post on Tumblr, with the album cover as the photo and the artist and song title in the photo’s caption.

With a bit of CSS magic I got it to look reasonably nice on both this blog and my portfolio site.

There are loads of things that you can do with ifttt! Like ‘When Facebook profile picture changes, update Twitter profile picture‘ or even ‘Annoy friends by posting a link to Rebecca Black’s Friday on Facebook every‘! There are loads of them on the Recipes page on ifttt.

Now, can I get it to text message me when a relative has announced on Facebook what present they’re getting me for Christmas?

Recently I’ve read several different articles around the internet using phrases like ‘because email is dead’ or ‘But you don’t use email, do you?’.

I don’t think that email is dead. I still do much of my professional communication via email.

I email between the Christian Union (CU) and the Students’ Union, between colleagues at Cross Rhythms and OMG, my boss at the Students’ Union and also on a personal level, my Uncle in America.

In emails I think there’s an expectation that there will be lots of information and sometimes large attachments to accompany these words. On social networks you can’t often do both, especially on Twitter!

Twitter is great for downloading a short piece of information to someone. I’ve done this several times at Cross Rhythms when I want to pass an article or news update to the breakfast show presenter. It’s easier than an email for that! Also at OMG. For example, just yesterday we went off air due to a power failure and to keep presenters/listeners informed I tweeted (and Facebook’d) the situation from the OMG account. We could’ve sent out emails to presenters but I don’t think they would’ve read them in time and I expect they were watching Facebook and Twitter any way to see what the university’s response to the blackout was.

Some might say that Facebook is an acceptable place to trade information. I’ve been using it recently when working in team projects at university, but then I am only posting up to 100 words (if that). I have Facebook (and Twitter and email) linked to my phone/iPod Touch so I always get the messages as soon as possible. Facebook Messenger enables me to reply easily. But anything more than 100 words and I’d rather type an email.

Another example where Facebook has replaced email is a project that I’m working on in Summer 2012; Jam FM at Essex International Jamboree. The manager (Scott) used the email list service provided by his bosses but then he set up a Facebook Group where those being involved can chat to each other and get to know each other. I prefer this because some discussions on there can be fast and furious and email just isn’t the place for that.

With the CU we use both email and Facebook to keep in touch. One big reason is now that a committee member isn’t on Facebook anymore! But there are some times where emails get some much more description across rather than a Facebook/Twitter post.

I guess my opinions are that email is better in a professional environment and where you need to get more than 100 words across to the recipient(s). Or maybe I’m just too attached to emails?