Article has been updated. First published on May 18, 2017

Social media has revolutionized the way we share information and stay connected. But it also leads to an increasing sense of information overload. There are only 24 hours a day, and if you are determined to be active in all accounts, giving each account the time it deserves can be a difficult task.

One of the effective ways to reduce the time spent in social applications is to publish the same updates on all platforms at once. This way, almost all friends and followers can receive your message. There are a variety of tools to help you achieve this – we picked some of our favorite options.

IFTTT (if so, then that)

IFTTT is a great and free tool that links your various applications and accounts together. By creating a "small program", it can send and receive commands to applications, mobile phones, smart home devices, etc. Each applet will wait for a trigger (if so), and when the event occurs, the applet will perform an action accordingly (then that). For example, when a specific Twitter account sends a tweet, IFTTT can send text messages to your phone.

[Related: Make life easier with IFTTT]

To use IFTTT for social posting, set the trigger to post on one social network and set the action to post the same post on another social network. For example, every time you post content on Facebook, IFTTT will send the same post to your Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social accounts.

After creating an account on IFTTT, click Create . Select the social network you want to use as a trigger (e.g., Twitter) and then select the social network you want to copy the post (e.g., Facebook). You can only attach one social network action per trigger, so if you need to publish to multiple networks at once, you need to set up multiple applets. You can also click to browse to find the applet template you want.

IFTTT's simple interface is easy to use, so if you get lost, it will surely help you find your direction.

Buffer

You are not the only one interested in posting messages on multiple networks. Large brands also rely on social media, and there are already many applications to help them with such bulk releases. We won't cover it all here - most are for social media managers and businesses - but Buffer is one of the easiest tools to use and is also suitable for individual users.

Buffer supports Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram. Whenever you write a post in the Buffer web application, you can choose which account to send to, as well as any image attachments you add. As an additional bonus, you can schedule posts—that is, "buffer" them into a queue, which is where the service name comes from. You just need to write your post, add attachments, select your network, and click the Publish button. You can even tweak the same post and make it more suitable for each platform.

If you find yourself sharing a lot of links on social networks, try installing the Buffer extension for Chrome and Firefox. The service also runs through apps for Android and iOS. It even works with IFTTT to give you more ways to manage social media updates.

Buffer offers a free plan that allows you to add all networks (except Pinterest) and schedule up to 10 posts at a time. You can also pay for more features.

Power Automate

Power Automate formerly known as Flow is a product from Microsoft that is very similar to IFTTT and performs roughly the same tasks, such as posting the same messages to multiple social networks. Currently, it supports Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, as well as other platforms such as YouTube, Blogger, and Slack. While Power Automate is not as easy to use as IFTTT, it does give you more control.

To use it, you first need to create a Microsoft account or log in with your existing credentials. Then, on the sidebar menu, go to Create and press social media to filter the template. Scroll down, under Start with Connectors, click All Connectors and search for the social media platform you want to start with.

For more tailored content, create your own template or process: On the Create menu, select a task under the Start with a blank menu. Then, name your process and follow the wizard instructions to set it up. You can add special conditions to further improve your process. For example, you might want to share blog posts on Twitter, but only if the posts contain specific hashtags or come from specific locations.

Built-in tools

Many of your favorite social networks are now connected, so the cross-release feature is built into it. Take the blogging platform Tumblr as an example – you can send text and image posts directly to Facebook and Twitter and your blog.

[Related: Facebook users can now mix Messenger and Instagram friends in group chats]

Instagram is another cross-posting guru – you can connect your account to Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter so that your photos will appear on all of these networks at the same time. You can also enable or disable these connections on a post-by-post basis. Instagram won't give you the same flexibility as Buffer, IFTTT, and Power Automate -- but you can't beat any of them when it comes to convenience and ease of use.

The best solution for you depends on the network you are using, how much control you want to have on your posts, and how complex you want to set it up. With all these options, you are sure to find something that suits your needs. You can also use the traditional method to update each network separately...but who has the time to do so?

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