How to use IFTTT for Social Media Automation

You putting out tons of helpful online content everyday & move hurriedly all day long, and going nuts on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. But there is also a chance that you feel overwhelmed with every social media profile that you need keep active.

It’s not enough to have a website or blog anymore - you need to have website & blog with amazing content in it, and also have to post fresh & amusing content regularly. You need to market your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram like crazy, and have bustling social media profiles. And don’t forget to distribute your content everywhere and meaningfully interact with your subscribers.

This can become an overwhelming amount of work that only a small army of people can accomplish within a reasonable time-frame.

Worry not, because our this post will give you and Social Media Automation Strategy when it comes to Social Media Promotion and Content Syndication.

You Love Automation, Right?

What is Social Media Automation?

Social Media Automation refers to tools that are used to semi/automate the process of posting content to social networking and social bookmarking websites. Tools can range from mostly manual and free to semi-automated tools which are either commercial standalone software or paid subscriptions (Wikipedia).

In General, Social Media Automation let you schedule social media content weeks and months in advance.

The 15 Best Social Media Automation Tools

Let’s have a look at our hand crafted Best of The Best Social Media Automation Tool for you. These 15 automation tools will help save you time and can do a few other things to make your life easier too.

1. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is a dream for all of us social media lovers. There are so many actions that Hootsuite can help with that if you have not learned the full scope of this social media automation tool, then I recommend you start looking it over. If you are serious about social media… then Hootsuite it is.

Hootsuite gives you the ability to keep track of many social media channels at once. This is perfect for those who work in the social media world, because it truly does make life a lot easier. Not only does it allow you to have multiple channels, it also lets you know if your brand has been mentioned.

2. IFTTT

IFTTT will save you from endless hours of frustrating Social Media Management by Automating Your Social Media Strategy.

IFTTT is a one-stop-shop for all of your favourite apps, allowing you to connect with them in a way that works best for you. And it’s super powerful. For example, you can automatically Tweet the photos you post on Instagram without any extra clicks and you can hook-up with your FitBit to make sure you get a little nudge if you’re not quite reaching your daily goal. Also set up auto replies to new followers, automatically post a blog on your social media once it’s published, and create alerts for brand mentions are all just some of the Applets you can create using this great service.

3. Buffer

Buffer makes posting to social media a whizz. All you have to do is add your post to the queue and it will be posted for you. No need to even schedule a time that the post will be posted because Buffer will take care of that too.

Buffer is also known for providing great analytics. If you want to know what is working and not working, these analytics will let you know. Buffer is always adding more to the analytics so keep an eye on this application.

4. Crowdfire

Crowdfire works with both Twitter and Instagram. Want to know who unfollowed you? Crowdfire is the source to go to have your questions answered.

In both business and personal life, we want to know about those who are following us and those who have decided they do not like the posts we are putting put up. Crowdfire also allows you to find those Twitter users who are inactive and delete them if you want to.

5. CoSchedule

CoSchedule is a writer’s dream. This management tool allows for articles to be scheduled, blog post management, scheduling for marketing projects and social media management.

CoSchedule allows for the organization that many writers and social media marketers yearn for. If you have given up on complex spreadsheets like some of us have, CoSchedule is a gift of organization.

6. SociAlert

SociAlert automates your hashtag search and allows a user to analyze what is happening on Twitter for your twitter campaigns in realtime. From digital marketers to established brands and media agencies, everyone can make the most out of their twitter campaigns with this hashtag tracking tool.

You can also use socialert to track event hashtags and monitor your brand as well. If you are really interested in how your twitter marketing works for you than this is the application to be using.

7. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo allows for many different tasks to be accomplished. BuzzSumo has an influencers search that cannot be beaten. It allows for searches being conducted by location, topic and area.

You can also analyse influencers with the filter you can go by authority, reach, engagement and influence. It also has the ability to build lists and communicate with key influencers. Follow those influencers you choose to and add them to your Twitter lists.

8. SocialOomph

SocialOomph is an excellent tool for beginning social media managers because it’s a bit more holistic. It works with Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, RSS feeds, blogs, Plurk, and App.net.

SocialOomph’s free level allows you to work on up to five twitter accounts to schedule tweets and track keywords. The scheduling and posting tool includes a URL shortening feature also allows you to track clicks.

9. Scoop.it

Scoop.it allows for content publishing in less time than any other social media automation application. With Scoop.it content can be curated from other sources and shared with your opinion or angle. It also allows posts to be shared across social media platforms with the push of a button. Searching for content is easy with the use of the search bar for a particular topic.

Scoop.it is great for when you want to share something on a certain niche or topic. It also allows for freedom from writing all of your own content. Looking for ideas on topics and what is getting traffic? Head over to Scoop.it and I bet you will be mildly surprised.

10. MavSocial

MavSocial is, even as a freemium, so fully-fledged that it could be considered a social brand management system. The platform not only allows you to schedule posts for profiles on multiple different networks, but stores your images and assets in the platform for you to reuse.

Mavsocial works with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Instagram, and YouTube.

11. Post Planner

Post Planner is a helper when it comes to finding, planning and posting content that helps to increase followers and visibility on Twitter and Facebook. Finding content that works and will draw customers to your website is what post planner does best.

With Post Planner the user can actively choose photos, articles and even statuses to share. Having issues with content creation? Post Planner will certainly fill the void when needed. Hit that writing block or just need something intelligent to share? Try Post Planner!

12. Likeable Hub

Likeable Hub is a well-rounded social media management tool, though the freemium option may be better suited for individuals as it limits your access to business profiles.

Designed for ‘Smarter and Faster’ social media management, at the freemium level you can integrate and autoschedule from Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You’re offered basic analytics and reporting, email support, and access to a database of thousands of social media post ideas.

13. SocialPilot

SocialPilot is a marketing tool with social media scheduling for marketers and social media management teams. SocialPilot allows you to collaborate with your team by sharing their social media calendar. Over 500 posts can be shared to 200 social media accounts. Bulk scheduling of posts and updates is easy with SocialPilot. To use bulk scheduling all the user has to do is upload a file in CSV format or text. The bulk text will then go out as scheduled.

Looking for article topics to write about? SocialPilot takes care of that too so that you do not have to wrack your brain trying to think of something when in a pinch. Separate account groups and calendars for each of your clients keeps things organized and helps with team communication.

14. Sprout Social

Sprout Social has some great analytic tools for those interested in growing their following on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and more. Sprout Social has many valuable tools that can both increase business revenue and help social media managers remain organized and save time.

15. Zapier

Zapier allows you to link your web apps together to streamline your information and make things a whole lot easier. Once the apps are connected it is then possible to pass the information between them creating workflows which are named zaps. Zapier will automatically finish routine tasks so that you are able to complete other tasks that need your attention. Having the ability to plan and build workflows results in more work being completed and staying organized.

Zapier is great for those who want to integrate process and automation into a business. The next wonderful gift is that building process and automation does not include having to know how to code because this application will handle it for you. Can’t put out a bit of code? Do not get discouraged because Zapier will keep things stress free.

Social Media Automation With IFTTT

If you haven’t heard about it, IFTTT is a wonderful and free web-based automation tool. The name IFTTT stands for “If This, Then That.” And it’s just as amazing as it sounds.

You could have an email trigger a tweet, or a Facebook post could trigger a download. I’m getting a little ahead of myself, though. There are lots of these connections (IFTTT calls them “Applets”) down below.

Getting Started on IFTTT

Once you sign up for your free IFTTT account, you can start connecting different services such as email or Facebook. IFTTT has more than 360 services in all, and it is constantly adding to its lineup.

Here are the Major Social Nedia Services that work with IFTTT:

Facebook (Profiles, Pages, and Groups)

• Twitter
• Instagram
• LinkedIn
• Reddit
• Tumblr
• YouTube
• Pinterest
• FourSquare
• Blogger
• Medium
• WordPress

(No Google+ yet, there are some workarounds.)

Beyond Social Media Services, IFTTT connects with a vast number of other services, including both Apps and Hardware. These range from straightforward services like email, text message, and GPS to unique and creative services like electronic piggy banks and smart lightbulbs. Here is just a sampling of a few notable services IFTTT can connect.

• Pocket
• Jawbone Up
• Soundcloud
• Gmail
• Google Calendar
• Evernote
• Buffer
• Craigslist
• Dropbox
• Feedly

When you’re ready to get started with a Applet, you can browse the gallery of popular and trending Applets, or you can make one from scratch. Each service has a landing page of its own, too, which explains all the possibilities you can do with triggers and actions. (Click here for an example page for Facebook.)

Any applet can be paused or stopped whenever you like, so feel free to experiment! We’ve got a great list of applets to try below.

The 13 Best IFTTT Applets

Share your Instagram photos as native Twitter photos

Managing multiple social networks is a pain. While getting Instagram photos onto Facebook is a straightforward process — you just need connect your accounts — there’s no native solution for Instagram to Twitter. Use this applet to post your Instagram photos on Twitter in a natural way, one that allows your followers to see them without clicking.

Turn on your Philips Hue lights when you arrive home

You can use IFTTT to turn on your Hue bulbs when you get home, without having to fumble with the app. This is a real nice feature especially if you’re coming home from the supermarket and don’t have a free hand. While we’ve linked to the version for iOS, if you have an Android phone, use this applet instead.

Automatically post your Tweets on Facebook when you include a specific hashtag

While you can link your Twitter and Facebook accounts together, every single tweet you post will also post to your Facebook profile. That might not be the best option, especially if you’re a frequent social media user (hello, oversharing). Try using this applet, which only posts tweets to Facebook if you use the “#fb” hashtag.

Automatically keep your Facebook and Twitter profile pictures in sync

Don’t let your profile pic on either service get too old with this applet. It checks your Facebook profile picture, and if it changes, will automatically update your Twitter profile picture. Pretty convenient if you ask us.

Use Alexa to set the temperature on your Nest thermostat

If you have a Nest Thermostat, stop getting off the couch to change the temperature. With this Applet, you’ll be able to ask Alexa to do it.

Download new songs you like to Google Drive

Keeping up with all of the new music coming out is hard. This service will download publicly favorited songs on SoundCloud to your Google Drive.

Start brewing coffee when your FitBit registers you’re awake

If you’re obsessed with your Fitbit and wear it while you sleep, why not tell it to tell your WeMo coffeemaker to make you coffee when you wake? That’s possible with IFTTT. You’ll need Mr. Coffee’s WeMo-enabled coffeemaker, but it’s cool to know you’ll never be without a hot cup of joe in the morning again.

When your Fitbit records a sleepless night, remind yourself to go to bed early the next night

Fitbit devices are great for analyzing your sleep patterns, but if you’re not getting enough rest, it’s bad for your health. This particular applet watches for when you fall below a preset number of hours of sleep. If you do, IFTTT adds a reminder to your Google Calendar to turn in early the net night, ensuring you don’t run too much of a sleep deficit.

Get notifications about your favorite sports team on your TV

Comcast has recently enabled its X1 boxes to connect to IFTTT, meaning you’re life just got a whole lot easier if you’re an Xfinity customer. Once enabled, you’ll receive a notification on your TV whenever there’s news regarding your favorite sports team. It’s perfect for the sports nut.

Save your Strava activities in a Google spreadsheet

Strava too has its own IFTTT service, and if you’d like to do some cool data analysis on your activities outside of the app, have IFTTT save it to a Google spreadsheet. This applet saves the name of the activity, the time elapsed, the time elapsed in seconds, and the distance in meters traveled. It also saves links to the actual event on Strava, as well as a link to the route map.

Log rain to Google Docs Spreadsheet

Log rain in your city to a spreadsheet as it happens. This service will also add to a spreadsheet in your Google Drive.

Let me know if it's raining (So I can pack an umbrella)

Cool Service. You"ll Receive a text message when the weather changes. While the default is set to notify you of rain, you can change the trigger to use rain, snow, cloudy or clear.

Get notified of new Craigslist posts

Looking for something special on Craigslist? Have IFTTT monitor the service for you. Just provide IFTTT with the URL for your search query, and every time a new result matches your query, you’ll get alerted via an email.

Microsoft and LinkedIn Aggrement

Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn June 13, 2016 LinkedIn Blog Post.

Today we are excited to share that LinkedIn has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Microsoft. We are joining forces with Microsoft to realize a common mission to empower people and organizations. LinkedIn’s vision – to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce – is not changing and our members still come first.

Our companies are the world’s leading professional cloud and network. This deal will allow us to keep growing, investing in and innovating on LinkedIn to drive value for our members and our customers. Our members will continue to develop their skills, find a job and be great at that job, using our platform. We will continue to help our customers hire top talent, market their brand, and sell to their customers.

The LinkedIn you know and value is only getting better. LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence. We’ve been changing the way the world’s professionals have connected to opportunity for 13 years, and this is an opportunity for us to truly change the way the world works on a massive scale.

I’m incredibly energized by what this means for our members and employees, and for my personal perspective on this news, I encourage you to read my Influencer post. You can find more details on the agreement on the Microsoft News Center and the LinkedIn Newsroom.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

In connection with the transaction described above, LinkedIn Corporation (the “Company”) will file relevant materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including a proxy statement on Schedule 14A. Promptly after filing its definitive proxy statement with the SEC, the Company will mail the definitive proxy statement and a proxy card to each stockholder entitled to vote at the special meeting relating to the transaction. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF THE COMPANY ARE URGED TO READ THESE MATERIALS (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRANSACTION THAT THE COMPANY WILL FILE WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY AND THE TRANSACTION. The definitive proxy statement, the preliminary proxy statement and other relevant materials in connection with the transaction (when they become available), and any other documents filed by the Company with the SEC, may be obtained free of charge at the SEC’s website (http://www.sec.gov) or at LinkedIn’s website (http://investors.linkedin.com) or by writing to LinkedIn Corporation, Investor Relations, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, California 94043.

The Company and its directors and executive officers are participants in the solicitation of proxies from the Company’s stockholders with respect to the transaction. Information about the Company’s directors and executive officers and their ownership of the Company’s common stock is set forth in the Company’s proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on April 22, 2016. To the extent that holdings of the Company’s securities have changed since the amounts printed in the Company’s proxy statement, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. Information regarding the identity of the participants, and their direct or indirect interests in the transaction, by security holdings or otherwise, will be set forth in the proxy statement and other materials to be filed with SEC in connection with the transaction.

The Big Internet Venture: LinkedIn + Microsoft

Changing the Way the World Works: LinkedIn + Microsoft

June 13, 2016 Jeff Weiner CEO at LinkedIn sent following email to LinkedIn’s global workforce.

December 15th, 2008, marked the first day of the best job I’ve ever had. My rationale for joining LinkedIn was simple: The opportunity to work with Reid Hoffman, a founder I greatly admired and respected; to join an extremely talented and dedicated team; and to massively scale LinkedIn’s membership and business, both of which had the potential to fundamentally transform the way the world connects to opportunity. Never in my wildest dreams, could I have imagined what would happen in the next 7½ years. Our team has grown from 338 people to over 10,000, our membership from 32M to over 433M and our revenue from $78M to over $3 billion.

Despite those accomplishments, we’ve only just begun to realize our full potential and purpose: Our mission to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful, and our vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

Today’s announcement, that LinkedIn will be combining forces with Microsoft, marks the next step in our journey together, the next stepping stone toward realizing our mission and vision, and in remaining CEO of the company, the next chapter in the greatest professional experience of my life.

No matter what you're feeling now, give yourself some time to process the news. You might feel a sense of excitement, fear, sadness, or some combination of all of those emotions. Every member of the exec team has experienced the same, but we've had months to process. Regardless of the ups and downs, we've come out the other side knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is the best thing for our company.

Let me explain why.

Every day I come to work, I'm primarily guided by two things:

First, realizing our mission and vision. While this has always been top of mind for me, it’s never been more so than now. Remember that dystopian view of the future in which technology displaces millions of people from their jobs? It's happening. In the last three weeks alone, Foxconn announced it will replace 60,000 factory workers with robots, a former CEO of McDonald’s said given rising wages, the same would happen throughout their franchises, Walmart announced plans to start testing drones in its warehouses, and Elon Musk predicted fully autonomous car technology would arrive within two years.

Whether it's worker displacement, the skills gap, youth unemployment, or socio-economic stratification, the impact on society will be staggering. I’ve said it on multiple occasions and believe it even more so every day: creating economic opportunity will be the defining issue of our time. That's why I'm here and why I can't imagine doing any other job. Simply put, what we do matters, and matters more than ever.

The second thing I focus on every day is making our culture and values come to life. Ten years ago, had you asked me about culture and values I would have rolled my eyes and recited a line from Dilbert. But when I started as CEO I began to appreciate just how important they were. Culture and values provide the foundation upon which everything else is built. They are arguably our most important competitive advantage, and something that has grown to define us. It's one thing to change the world. It's another to do it in our own unique way: Members first. Relationships matter. Be open, honest and constructive. Demand excellence. Take intelligent risks. Act like an owner.

That's who we are. That's LinkedIn.

I primarily focus on these two things, because that's all I ever wanted when I was in your shoes: A clear sense of purpose and the opportunity to be successful in pursuit of that purpose. Thankfully, in my current role, I can actually do something about that.

In order to pursue our mission and vision, and to do so in a way consistent with our culture and values, we need to control our own destiny.

That, above all else, is the most important rationale behind today's announcement.

At this point, some of you may be thinking this sounds completely counterintuitive: How will we be more likely to control our own destiny after being acquired? The answer lies in both the way in which the world has been evolving and the unique way in which this deal will be structured.

Imagine a world where we're no longer looking up at Tech Titans such as Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook, and wondering what it would be like to operate at their extraordinary scale -- because we're one of them.

Imagine a world where we're not reacting to the intensifying competitive landscape -- we're leading it with advantages most companies can only dream of leveraging.

Imagine a world where we're not pressured to compromise on long-term investment, hesitant to disrupt ourselves, or hamstrung in the way we can reward and acquire new talent due to stock price concerns, but consistently investing intelligently toward the realization of our mission and vision.

And imagine a world where a global economic downturn doesn't limit our ability to execute, but reinforces the essential quality of our purpose and actually strengthens our resolve when people need us most.

With today's news, we won't need to imagine any of it because it's now our reality.

Some of you may be asking “Why Microsoft?”

Long before Satya and I first sat down to talk about how we could work together, I had publicly shared my thoughts on how impressive his efforts were to rapidly transition Microsoft’s strategy and culture. After all, it’s extremely rare to see a company of that scope and scale move so quickly to make fundamental changes.

The Microsoft that has evolved under Satya’s leadership is a more agile, innovative, open and purpose-driven company. It was that latter point that first had me thinking we could make this work, but it was his thoughts on how we’d do it that got me truly excited about the prospect.

When Satya first proposed the idea of acquiring LinkedIn, he said it was absolutely essential that we had alignment on two things: Purpose and structure. On the former, it didn’t take long before the two of us realized we had virtually identical mission statements. For LinkedIn, it was to connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful, and for Microsoft it was to empower every individual and organization in the world to achieve more. Essentially, we’re both trying to do the same thing but coming at it from two different places: For LinkedIn, it’s the professional network, and for Microsoft, the professional cloud.

Both of us recognized that combining these assets would be unique and had the potential to unlock some enormous opportunities.

For example:

1. Massively scaling the reach and engagement of LinkedIn by using the network to power the social and identity layers of Microsoft's ecosystem of over one billion customers. Think about things like LinkedIn's graph interwoven throughout Outlook, Calendar, Active Directory, Office, Windows, Skype, Dynamics, Cortana, Bing and more.
2. Accelerating our objective to transform learning and development by deeply integrating the Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning solution in Office alongside some of the most popular productivity apps on the planet (note: 6 of the top 25 most popular Lynda.com courses are related to Microsoft products).
3. Realizing LinkedIn’s full potential to truly change the way the world works by partnering with Microsoft to innovate on solutions within the enterprise that are ripest for disruption, e.g., the corporate directory, company news dissemination, collaboration, productivity tools, distribution of business intelligence and employee voice, etc.
4. Expanding beyond recruiting and learning & development to create value for any part of an organization involved with hiring, managing, motivating or leading employees. This human capital area is a massive business opportunity and an entirely new one for Microsoft.
5. Giving Sponsored Content customers the ability to reach Microsoft users anywhere across the Microsoft ecosystem, unlocking significant untapped inventory.
6. Redefining social selling through the combination of Sales Navigator and Dynamics.
7. Leveraging our subscription capabilities to provide opportunities to the massive number of freelancers and independent service providers that use Microsoft's apps to run their business on a daily basis.

And these are just some of the ideas that have been discussed since our first meeting.

Turning from purpose, we focused our attention on potential structure. I had no idea what Satya was going to propose, but knew how difficult acquisition integrations could be if not established the right way from the start.

Long story short, Satya had me at “independence.” In other words, his vision was to operate LinkedIn as a fully independent entity within Microsoft, a model used with great success by companies like YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp. I would remain as CEO and report directly to him instead of a board. Together, along with Reid, Bill Gates, my former colleague Qi Lu, and new partner Scott Guthrie, we would partner on how best to leverage this extraordinary combination of assets while pursuing a shared mission. This, we both agreed, might not only be a structure that could work, it would be one in which both companies could thrive.

Now onto the most important question: What does this mean for you specifically as an employee of LinkedIn?

Given our ability to operate independently, little is expected to change: You'll have the same title, the same manager, and the same role you currently have. The one exception: For those members of the team whose jobs are entirely focused on maintaining LinkedIn's status as a publicly traded company, we'll be helping you find your next play. In terms of everything else, it should be business as usual. We have the same mission and vision; we have the same culture and values; and I’m still the CEO of LinkedIn.

I wanted to conclude on a familiar note. One of the most memorable moments I’ve experienced at LinkedIn was ringing the bell at the NYSE. I remember the All Hands we had following the event like it was yesterday. During that meeting, we reinforced the fact that becoming public was not the end game, but rather a stepping stone in the process of our ultimate objectives. We finished the All Hands with two words that have become LinkedIn’s unofficial mantra: “Next play.” In other words, don’t dwell on the past, lingering for too long on a lesson learned, or the celebration of a special accomplishment, but rather focus on the task at hand. It’s a mantra that’s served us well.

So, here’s to the next stepping stone.

Next play.

8 Reasons You Should Hire an "Gen Y” interns

Your startup or growing company has a tight budget. You’re hoping to get a lot done, but only have a few employees. Has the thought of hiring an intern -- or several interns -- ever crossed your mind?

These benefits of hiring interns might persuade you to start an internship program.

8 Reasons You Should Hire an "Gen Y” interns

Reason One - New perspective on Organizational Issues
Interns challenge “the way we’ve always done it” mentality and bring fresh, new ideas to the company. Interns are good at questioning processes and can often see a better way of doing things that a manager might not.

Reason Two - Ease of Use With Technology
Social media, computer programs, iPads – these are a piece of cake for young professionals. And, although you’re a young entrepreneur, you can always use a hand from a fellow Gen Y tech-savvy professional.

Reason Three - It’s a Trial Period That could lead to something more
An internship is a great way to see how much potential a student or recent graduate has in the field. You’ll get to see their skills and work ethic as an intern—and might choose to bring them on as a paid employee down the line.

Reason Four - Cost-effective
Compared to other populations, Generation Y appears less motivated by money. According to a 2009 online survey conducted by Monster.com, 37% of employers report that "work/life balance and flexibility" is the most motivating factor for Gen Y, with only 17% claiming "compensation" as the primary driver.

Reason Five - Help with projects or tasks that you’re struggling to complete
An interested candidate takes on an internship in hopes of accomplishing something to use on their resume or in future interviews. Give them real, meaningful work that will help your organization run smoother, accomplish more, or be more successful. Just make sure you don’t violate the The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which states that “the employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the trainees, and on occasion the employer’s operations may actually be impeded.” (Of course, you probably realize that if you’re not benefiting in some way, the intern likely isn’t either. I definitely think this law needs a serious update, which I take a shot at in my recent book, Lies, Damned Lies & Internships: The Truth About Getting from Classroom to Cubicle.)

Reason Six - Self-expressive
In the Gen Y world, Twitter has taught them to express themselves. And while their parents would have shuddered at this type of sharing, the positive effect has been a group of prospective interns who aren't afraid to put ideas out there. In the workplace, this translates into unabashed brainstorming, generating new solutions and fresh perspectives.

Reason Seven - Gain brand advocates
Hiring an intern helps spread the word about your company—whether you mean to or not. If you’re an impressive internship supervisor and mentor, your interns will probably talk about their experience with peers, friends and family members, essentially advertising for your organization (but it’s free!).

Reason Eight - Intrapreneurship Programs
Study after study show that Gen Ys have an extremely strong entrepreneurial focus — with many planning to start their own businesses (partly so that they can control their own fate). Employers can retain workers longer — while leveraging that entrepreneurial sprit — by developing incubator and intrapreneurship programs and opportunities.

WordPress Site Security: What Can You Do About It?

Want WordPress Site Security? Enable Two-Factor Authentication on WordPress Site?

How you are protecting your website from Hackers ? Security issues using WordPress!! Headache?? Don’t be nervous, here’s easy two-factor authentication to make your WordPress Website Safe & Secure.

More and more sites are using two-factor or multi-factor authentication to ramp up security. I mean, Google wants my cell phone number to confirm my identity before I can log into Gmail. And it’s a good idea. I mean, do you see how often hacking stories hit the mainstream news? Security (or the lack thereof) is a real problem and while you may not be able to prevent a big security breach like the one that happened at The Home Depot recently, you can do your part as an individual to protect your information and your site.

What is Two Factor Authentication?

As its name suggests, two factor authentication is a process that requires two sets of authentication before you’re logged into a site. Many big name sites currently make use of it in one way or another. I already mentioned Google, but sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon use it, too.

What is  WordPress Two-Factor Authentication?

Passwords are the de-facto standard for logging in on the web, but they’re relatively easy to break. Even if you make good passwords and change them regularly, they need to be stored wherever you’re logging in, and a server breach can leak them. There are three ways to identify a person, things they are, things they have, and things they know.

Logging in with a password is single-step authentication. It relies only on something you know. Two-step authentication, by definition, is a system where you use two of the three possible factors to prove your identity, instead of just one. In practice, however, current two-step implementations still rely on a password you know, but use your Phone or another device to authenticate with something you have.

A WordPress user can increase their website’s security by installing a plugin, which gives them the two-factor authentication feature. There are several plugins widely available and can be found in the plugin tab on the WordPress Dashboard. On installing a plugin, a user needs to activate it and follow the instructions that are prompted. It’s an easy procedure offering a better chance at security.

However, there are several other kinds of two factor authentication on the market. For instance, you might be required to input a specific personal identification number (PIN) along with the username and password. Or you might need to confirm a specific visual pattern before being granted access. Many banks use this form of authentication.

A fob is another popular choice for confirming identity before sign-ons. The fob (that you can easily attach to your keychain) displays a random series of numbers that you are then required to input into a text field on the site before you’re allowed to login.

While two factor authentication might feel like a new thing, rest assured it’s not. When you pay with a credit card, you often have to show your ID to the person behind the checkout counter. Or you have to input your zip code. Or if shopping online, you need to input the security code from the back of your card. So you see, it’s nothing new. But the application to website logins is sort of a new thing and that’s why more and more people have started asking about it.

Why Do You Need Two-Factor Authentication?

As I mentioned in my opening paragraphs, two factor authentication adds another layer of security in a world where hacking has become commonplace. In short, you need it because you need to protect your personal information and your site from malicious people out there. And they are out there.

Brute force attacks occur constantly and unless you have your site secured properly, odds are good that a hacker will one day break through your defenses and steal your info, upload malware, or perform a whole host of other malicious acts.

Two factor authentication makes hacking your site harder. And unless you’re running a high-profile site, most hackers and bots are going to give up after a time when they can’t break in right away.

You want an even shorter answer, Right?

Anything you can do to make hacking your site harder is worth doing.

A lot of people are reluctant to jump on the two factor bandwagon, however. Because in the process of improving site security, it makes the login process more complicated and more time-consuming. Arguably, it doesn’t take that much longer but there is a definite time factor involved here. You can always opt for the “stay logged in” option to reduce the number of times you have to go through the double authentication process in a given week, too, if it’s a major concern for you.

How To Enable Two-Factor Authentication on WordPress Site?

You have several options for plugins that make setting up two factor authentication a snap. You can use Duo, Clef, Wordfence, OpenID, Authy, Google Authenticator & Many More. In this article we're going to tell you about Google Authenticator for your WordPress Site.

WordPress Two-Factor Authentication with Google Authenticator

To set up two step authentication via an authenticator application on your device, you’ll need to start in a desktop browser.

First, go to your Two-Step Authentication settings page at WordPress.com. Or, you can reach Settings by clicking on your Gravatar image from the WordPress.com home page:

Next, click the “Security” link in the navigation on the left-hand side of the screen:

Then, click on Two-Step Authentication and then Get Started.

Here you’ll be prompted to select your country and to provide your mobile phone number (without country code and spaces or dashes). After doing so, click Verify Via App.

Next, scan the QR code presented with your authenticator app. A six-digit number will appear in the authenticator app. Enter it in the blank provided and click Enable.

Lastly, you’ll be prompted to print backup codes. Don’t skip this step, as it’ll be your only way to log back into your account without staff assistance should your device go missing!

If your web browser is set to block pop-up windows, you may need to temporarily disable this feature as it will prevent the window with your backup codes from opening.

Click All Finished.

At this point, your site is enabled for two-step authentication. A follow-up step allows you to confirm that your backup codes work by entering one of the printed codes.

Setup with SMS Codes

If you’re unable to set up two step authentication using an authenticator app, you can also set it up to work via SMS messages. To do so, set up your phone number as described above, but then click Verify via SMS.

Within a few moments, you should receive a text message that includes a 7-digit number. Enter this number in the blank provided and click Enable. From this point forward, you can print and verify backup codes as documented above. Your account is now protected by two step authentication.

Logging In

The login process varies slightly from the usual process once you have two step authentication enabled. Regardless of whether you used the Google Authenticator method or the SMS method to enable two step authentication, you’ll start by logging in as usual with your username and password.

Next, you’ll be prompted to enter the verification code that was sent to your device.

If you’re using SMS for two step authentication, we’ll send you a text message with a six-digit number. If you set up two step authentication with the Google Authenticator app, open the Google Authenticator app on your device and provide the six-digit number listed for the account. Once you’ve entered the code, you’ll be logged in and ready to blog.

Backup Codes
We don’t want you to lose access to your WordPress.com account—you’ll still need to be able to log in if it’s is lost, stolen, you’re locked out for any reason, or your device needs to be wiped clean (which will delete Google Authenticator). To make sure you’re never locked out of your blog, you can generate a set of ten, one-time-use backup codes. We recommend that you print the backup codes out and keep them in a secure place like a wallet or document safe. (Don’t save them on your computer. They’d be accessible to anyone using your machine.) Generating backup codes is essential and must be done. If you ever need to use a backup code, just log in like you normally would, and when asked about the login code enter the backup code instead.

At the end of the setup process for Two Step Authorization, you’ll be given the option to generate backup codes:

Just click “Generate Backup Codes,” print the screen containing the codes—don’t save it—and then close the screen. If you lose your list of backups or it’s compromised, you can generate a new set of codes. For added security, this will disable any previously-generated codes.

Important: You can only generate the backup codes from a desktop browser. For example, Safari on iOS will not display the backup codes. Additionally, if your web browser is set to block pop-up windows, you will need to temporarily disable this feature as it will prevent the window with your backup codes from opening.

Application-Specific Passwords

There may be some apps that connect to your WordPress.com account that don’t yet fully support Two Step Authentication; the most common are the WordPress mobile apps or Jabber apps used to subscribe to WordPress.com blogs. For these apps, you can generate unique passwords for each application (e.g., you can have a different password on your phone and your tablet). You can then disable individual passwords and lock applications out of your account to prevent others from accessing your sites.

To generate application-specific passwords, head back to Two-Step Authentication and then down to “Application Passwords”:

Give the application a name—you’re the only one who will see this name, so call it whatever you’d like—and click “Generate Password.” WordPress.com will create a unique 16-character password that you can copy and paste the next time you log in to your account on that device. The application will remember this password, so you don’t need to.

Your Security page will maintain a list of all the applications for which you’ve generated passwords. If any of your devices are lost or stolen, or you simply wish to revoke access for a particular application, you can visit this page at any time and click “X” to disable the password and prevent the app from accessing your account:

Disabling Two Step Authentication

We don’t recommend disabling Two Step Authentication, as it’s much less secure, even if you believe your password is very strong. But if you insist, you can disable the feature by going to your Two-Step Authentication page.

The page will show that the feature is enabled, and you can click the Disable Two-Step Authentication button. This will prompt you to enter a code to confirm that you still have access to the device you originally used to set two step authentication up. If you’re using an authenticator app, open it and provide the code it lists. If you’re using SMS, you’ll be sent a code to use. (This code is different from the code you used to log in to your account. You can also use one of your backup codes for this step.)

Click Disable after entering the code and your account will no longer be protected by Two Step Authentication.

Moving to a New Device

If you are planning on switching to a new device, and you have enabled Two Step Authentication, you will want to take the following steps to avoid being accidentally locked out of your user account.

If you are using an authenticator app to generate verification codes:

1. Print a set of backup codes for your user account by following the steps here. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP.
2. On your new device, install the authenticator app.
3. Disable the Two Step Authentication link with your old device by following the steps here.
4. Set up your user account to link to your new device by following the steps here.
5. If you are prompted to enter your verification code, use a code from your list of backup codes. Backup codes are one-time use only.
6. You can now uninstall the authenticator app from your old device.

If you are using the WordPress.com mobile app to manage and publish to your blog:

• Create a new application-specific password by following the steps here.
• Enter your new application password when using this app on your new device.

If you are using SMS to receive authentication codes, you will not need to update your settings unless you are also changing to a new phone number. In that case, you will want to set up a new recovery number prior to disconnecting your old SMS number by following the steps here.

If You Lose Your Device

If you lose your device, accidentally remove the authenticator app, or are otherwise locked out of your account, the only way to get back in to your account is by using a Backup Code.

To use a backup code, fill in your login details like you normally would. When asked about the login code enter the backup code instead. Remember: backup codes are only valid for one time each so be careful when using them.