I discovered Bloggu.io while looking into automating my posts using the Hashnode and Dev.to API's.
This got me thinking, how far can I take this?
So, I jumped to IFTTT.com and had a look at their connectors. Sadly, Hashnode and Dev.to is not available, but I did find a connector for Medium.com, a platform I'll admit I did not know existed.
I quickly registered an account on Medium.com, although admittedly only to take advantage of the IFTTT connector. Next, I created two new applets in IFTTT:
If I post on Medium.com, then post an update on my LinkedIn
AND
If I post on Medium.com, then post a link on my Twitter
What does this all mean though?
By leveraging multiple automation systems, I hope to have create a post creating-sharing-automation beast 🐉
So then, the question, "Does it work?"
We'll be finding out together 😎. I am using this post as the sample.
If it works, I'll update it below, and if it doesn't, I'll update it all the same 👇
Automation Checks
[✅] Hashnode
[✅] Dev.to
[✅] Medium.com
The take away
In theory, the automation worked like a charm ✨
It posted to my LinkedIn no problem:
It also posted to my Twitter page, minutes after the blog posts went up:
BUT
The experience was not...smooth 🧼:
Bloggu.io is great, but it's still in beta. I had to redo the same post twice because it doesn't autosave and spellcheck is non-existent, even with browser extensions enabled. By using Bloggu.io, I miss out on the feature rich editor of Hashnode.com, the autosaves, the spellcheck and the great metadata editor.
IFTTT.com is amazing, but relying on it takes away some of the charm, the style if you would...The links to the post are ugly redirect links, rendering my custom domain pointing useless. The posts feel...automated, non-inviting and I can only imagine the feeling getting worse as time progresses.
But the biggest problem, Medium.com. Don't get me wrong, the platform is fine, but I pointed my custom domain to the Hashnode network, because I put effort into the design and maintenance. The automated posts all direct to Medium.com, meaning it will never generate traffic to my Hashnode.com / Dev.to pages, and this is a deal breaker for me.
But, in the end, I had fun tinkering, as I always do 👨🔬
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