How to use IFTTT (If This, Then That) with Twitter

/ harmonykentonline

Hello SErs! Harmony here. With all the recent changes to Twitter’s tweeting and auto-tweet rules, I thought it might be useful to talk about how we can use the IFTTT platform to help us out a little.

I used to subscribe to Roundteam, which took care of a lot of my retweets for me, and the monthly fee was reasonable. Sadly, they are shutting their doors and cite Twitter for this. I had paid until August this year, and lost my subscription late last year with no refund, so I’m not too pleased about that. The other issue, of course, was still wanting to retweet people without having to spend 24/7 at the computer.

All the other retweet services I have found are both limited and expensive. Basically, twitter doesn’t want us to automate anything, and this is limiting any company/platform offering such a service.

So, what to do?

While it’s not a great fix, the IFTTT platform has given me a limited option.

IFTTT uses Applets to help you retweet or set automated tweets which link to your Twitter account. Here’s a screenshot of my dashboard … kept deliberately simple for this post …

This service is limited because you can’t use the Applets more than 100 times in any 24-hour period. So, if I have just one active Applet, as above, it can auto tweet 100 times for me a day. However, if I added another, that would limit both as they share the 100 tweet limit. You can’t allocate 50 to one and 50 to the other. It works on a first come, first serve basis.

You can search for Applets via IFTTT’s search page, and thousands of options come up:

Each Applet is simple to set up. Below is my auto-thanks Applet, which I find helpful in catching tweets that tag me as soon as possible. The international time differences can make this tricky, and sometimes, I don’t get to a tweet for about 20 hours or so. Until it reaches its limit, this Applet helps me respond in a more timely fashion.

Click on the cog image in the upper right. Takes you to your configure page:

As you can see, mine is set up already.

I find the IFTTT Applets simple to set up, and then they run themselves. So far, the only downside is the 100-tweets-in-24-hours limit.

Have you used auto-retweet / tweet tools before? If so, what tools do you use? Or, like me, have you found yourself a bit stuck since Twitter changed the rules?

CLICK TO TWEET

Harmony Kent

36 thoughts on “How to use IFTTT (If This, Then That) with Twitter”

  2. Pingback: Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links – Staci Troilo

  5. I use Hootsuite, although it has some problems. It doesn’t retweet, and it doesn’t like it when you won’t let it shorten links (and when you let it do so, the links don’t work correctly sometimes).

    It also serves as a Twitter interface substitute, allowing you to view multiple streams at in different columns.

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  7. Gee, I didn’t know Roundtree closed their doors. I’ve been using Tweetdeck for a year and it works great. I follow certain hashtags and physically retweet those I see that are interesting. I use Tweetdeck to schedule tweets and also use Triberr.

    Twitter wants to close the barn door after it’s been wide open for a decade. I get why they’re nailing automation and spammers but it hurts the rest of us.

    I read somewhere where the algorithm shares more of your tweets when you live tweet/retweet at least 20% of the time. So, that’s what I try to do.

    I get way more traction on Instagram than I do on Twitter these days. It’s interesting.

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      • I gave it a go a year ago and started with zero followers. I’m now up to 656 and it’s a great way to bring people to your website and your books. I gotta tell you, it’s a lot of “liking” and interacting with others. The key is to be your friendly self and keep at it.

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  8. I’ve used Tweet Jukebox for three years. Now I’m not allowed to use any tweet handles and only one hashtag. The cost is high and now not worth it. I prepaid my subscription with no hope of a refund. When it worked it was wonderful. I could set up all kinds of shoutouts and have them run automatically. No longer.

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  9. Looks like a neat tool. Part of the problem with Twitter is that it’s just so much noise. Some of this can be attributed to the automation, so I understand them wanting to change something. As an example, I retweet your pinned tweet every day. I have a hunch it doesn’t drive much traffic, but I try. If Twitter were a more personal platform, it might be more useful.

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  10. I didn’t know Roundteam had closed it’s doors. I used them when I was a member of RRBC but dropped them before I left the club as I could never get it to work the way I wanted–probably because I was using the free platform.

    I’ve scheduled Tweets through Hootsuite, and I used to use CrowdFireApp and Manage Flitter for follows and unfollows but Twitter dropped the boom on them too. I think I could automate through CrowdFire but that part of the service is under a paid platform and I haven’t explored it. Thanks for sharing this Harmony. I may look into IFTTT. Lately, I’ve had great engagement just by following certain hashtags, but I’d like to build on Twitter in other ways, too. This is helpful!

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  11. I’m embarrassed to say I’ve had this service for years, don’t know how I got on it, and never understood it. In fact, I think I deactivated it because I wasn’t sure what they were asking me to do in all the emails they sent me. Maybe I should have read them more closely. I think I’m going to look into it again. Thanks, Harmony.

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  13. I’m one of the few who just don’t get Twitter. Guess that’s not true, but I’m not very active there. I’ve used Buffer to schedule tweets, but that’s about it. Thanks for the informative post.

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    • Thanks, Joan. These days, Twitter is my main platform. The downside is that Tweets have a short impression life compared to other social media options.

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