Many of us rely on a variety of web tools to stay in touch with new posts, keep track of links and then share valuable resources. While some of the more popular services allow you to link your accounts together and share with one click, what can you do if two of your favourite tools don’t work together at all?

If this then that (IFTTT) allows users to create rules that link online accounts together. Using a simple trigger (if this) and action (then that) format, you can automate an action based on an event. For example, you could automate a task so that whenever you favourite a tweet then the link will be automatically added to your Delicious bookmarks. You might want any links you post on Facebook to automatically be added as a new note in your Evernote account, or have any photographs you upload to Instagram appear in a new Tumblr post. There is a full list of supported tools on the IFTTT website and developers have indicated that more tools will be added over time.

Any rules you create can be shared as ‘recipes’ for other people to use, and there are a number of pre-made recipes that you can add to your own account.

Here’s the way you can get started and make your first automated task.

1. Create an account at If this then that
2. Visit the channels page and activate the accounts you want to use. You will need to provide your username and password for each service.
3. Visit the tasks page and click Create new task. Click on IF THIS and then select the account that will be the trigger.
4. Choose a trigger related to the account. For example, a trigger from Twitter could be if you send a new tweet, or you retweet, or you send a tweet with a particular hashtag. Choose your trigger and click create trigger.
5. Now choose THEN THAT and choose the account that the event will be created in. Then choose the action that should occur.
6. Depending on the account you are using, you may also be given further options to customise the action. Once you are happy with the action click Create action.
7. The task should now be active, and If This Then That will check for new activity every fifteen minutes. If you’d like to share the rule you’ve created then click on the mortar and pestle icon to create a recipe that can be used by other IFTTT users.

Does it all sound a bit complicated? The video below runs through an example of creating an automated task.