IF and then recipie

So for my IFTTT account I created a recipe which I vaguely understand how it works. Not being a very frequent Instagram user, I created a recipe that might interest me in the app more. Basically how it works is every time I like something on Instagram (I’ll make an effort to actually use the platform), it will update my profile picture on twitter. This recipe was mostly a test recipe to see what results I would get from IFTTT. I’m chronicling this recipe and another one I’ll explain later on below for a week to see the results. In general I don’t really pay attention to social media so my hope is that if and then can serve as a surrogate me and post and like things for me. I hope to create a digital version of myself that completely functions and exists on the internet with little to no prompting from me. My second recipe will aim to do this even more by posting automatically on my tumbler whenever there is a sunrise in my area based on the weather channel app. Hopeful I will have a completely automated tumblr that posts stupid pictures of sunrises and weather updates.

I created my recipes before I read Jim Campbell’s Formal for Computer Art Post however, after reading the post it really gave me insight into how IFFTEN functions. From what I can make out, essentially the website is retrieving and sending information based on a certain set of parameters, or recipes, the user makes. All of this is based off of the open API from it and other websites like twitter and Facebook. I find API to be a form of welcomed hacking in a way, especially when it comes to retrieving secret information from the government. However, on a social media terms, I also find it slightly unsettling. Even using the website IFTTT to essentially automate tumblr posts for me is in a way unsettling. Essentially it is connecting all of the information you have on social media websites and linking them, inherently creating a completely digital database of you online which I find unsettling.

If you would like to see what IFTTT has posted for my tumblr so far, or you would like to know what the weather is today, you can check it out below!

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ritznrubble