Ifttt makes your Web apps work so you don’t have to

Question: How many different Internet accounts do you have? If the answer is more than three and includes the likes of Gmail, Facebook, Dropbox, Twitter, Instagram, Craiglist, and Tumblr, then you need to try Ifttt. The site describes itself as “putting the Internet to work,” and allowing users to set definitions that trigger actions between their various online accounts.

To put that into simpler terms, you use Ifttt to make all your Web applications super effective. If something happens on Facebook, then it makes something happen on Twitter. And given the wealth of accounts we all have at this point, Ifttt can cut down on the time you spend managing your online life. Instead of manually transferring your Instagram photos to Dropbox, let Ifttt do it for you automatically.

Most applications can integrate where you’re sharing information across one of two platforms, but few if any cover as many bases as Ifttt does. There are more than 500 task combinations housed under the one site, and users create and share them so you can go through and just pick and choose and if you don’t want to spend the time making your own. You can choose to keep your formulas private or turn them into public recipes for everyone to use. Here are our favorite incredibly effective and simplifying recipes  – and a couple we made ourselves.

For photo backup: Every time I upload a photo to Facebook, it will be sent to Dropbox.

For Twitter etiquette: Every time someone follows me on Twitter, it automatically sends a “Thanks for following!” tweet.

For weather planning: Send me a text message if it’s going to rain.

To act as your alarm: Call me at this hour every day as a wake up call.

To blog: Send my YouTube favorites to Tumblr as video posts.

To escape: Call my phone at a predetermined time.

For apartment hunting: Get a text message every time an apartment in your area of choice is posted to Craigslist.

For job hunting: Send me an email (to Gmail) every time a job is posted in my field on Craigslist.