An empirical characterization of IFTTT: Ecosystem, usage, and performance

Xianghang Mi; Ying Zhang; Feng Qian; Xiaofeng Wang

doi:10.1145/3131365.3131369

An empirical characterization of IFTTT: Ecosystem, usage, and performance

Xianghang Mi, Ying Zhang, Feng Qian, Xiaofeng Wang

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

102 Scopus citations

Abstract

IFTTT is a popular trigger-action programming platform whose applets can automate more than 400 services of IoT devices and web applications. We conduct an empirical study of IFTTT using a combined approach of analyzing data collected for 6 months and performing controlled experiments using a custom testbed. We profile the interactions among different entities, measure how applets are used by end users, and test the performance of applet execution. Overall we observe the fast growth of the IFTTT ecosystem and its increasing usage for automating IoT-related tasks, which correspond to 52% of all services and 16% of the applet usage. We also observe several performance inefficiencies and identify their causes.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	IMC 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 Internet Measurement Conference
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	398-404
Number of pages	7
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450351188
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3131365.3131369
State	Published - Nov 1 2017
Externally published	Yes
Event	2017 ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2017 - London, United Kingdom Duration: Nov 1 2017 → Nov 3 2017

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC
Volume	Part F131937

Other

Other	2017 ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2017
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	London
Period	11/1/17 → 11/3/17

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank our shepherd, Hamed Haddadi, and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions. This research was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant #1629347 and #1566331.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Association for Computing Machinery.

Keywords

IFTTT
IoT
Measurement

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10.1145/3131365.3131369

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Cite this

Mi, X., Zhang, Y., Qian, F., & Wang, X. (2017). An empirical characterization of IFTTT: Ecosystem, usage, and performance. In IMC 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 Internet Measurement Conference (pp. 398-404). (Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC; Vol. Part F131937). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3131365.3131369

An empirical characterization of IFTTT: Ecosystem, usage, and performance. / Mi, Xianghang; Zhang, Ying; Qian, Feng et al.
IMC 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 Internet Measurement Conference. Association for Computing Machinery, 2017. p. 398-404 (Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC; Vol. Part F131937).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Mi, X, Zhang, Y, Qian, F & Wang, X 2017, An empirical characterization of IFTTT: Ecosystem, usage, and performance. in IMC 2017 - Proceedings of the 2017 Internet Measurement Conference. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC, vol. Part F131937, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 398-404, 2017 ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2017, London, United Kingdom, 11/1/17. https://doi.org/10.1145/3131365.3131369

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An empirical characterization of IFTTT: Ecosystem, usage, and performance

Abstract

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