Home > Articles > Home & Office Computing > The Web/Virtual Worlds/Social Networking

Roundup of iPhone and iPad Apps for Online Social Networking

In this article, Jason R. Rich introduces you to just some of the apps that you can use to actively participate on the various online social networking services, including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn using your iPhone or iPad. Share your thoughts; interact with friends, family, coworkers or total strangers; share photos; and more from virtually anywhere there’s a 3G or Wi-Fi connection available.
Like this article? We recommend

In recent years, people around the world have adopted a new way to communicate. Instead of talking on the phone, sending written letters, or even conversing via email.

More and more people are relying on online social networking services, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn, to do the following:

  • Communicate with friends and family
  • Stay in touch with coworkers
  • Reconnect with past coworkers, acquaintances, and classmates
  • Share photos and videos
  • Share thoughts and opinions with like-minded strangers
  • Promote themselves and their businesses
  • Solicit new business and/or promote their product(s) or service(s)

For the iPhone and iPad, a handful of specialized apps are available that make it very simple to manage your Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and/or LinkedIn accounts anytime and anywhere.

Start by downloading the free "official" app for each service in which you’re active. These apps include the following:

  • The official Twitter app (free) is available as a hybrid iPhone/iPad app. It can be downloaded from within the Settings app (as well as from the App Store). Plus, Twitter functionality has been incorporated into several apps that come preinstalled with iOS 5, including Photos, Safari, Maps, and YouTube.
  • Facebook offers an official app for both the iPhone and iPad. Having been recently redesigned, these apps now give you access to the majority of Facebook’s most popular features and functions.
  • The official Google+ and LinkedIn apps are both free iPhone apps that also work flawlessly on the iPad.

These apps, and other app like them, allow you to take full advantage of your iPhone or iPad’s built-in cameras and GPS capabilities as you create and publish content and participate within these vast online communities.

Using the Official Twitter App

When you first upgrade to iOS 5, you'll need to install the official Twitter app on your device, plus add your existing Twitter account information to the Settings app. This will allow you to begin sending tweets from within other iOS 5 apps.

The fastest way to accomplish both of these tasks is to launch the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad; then, from the main Settings menu, tap the Twitter option.

If you already have a Twitter account, and want to be able to send tweets from several popular iOS 5 apps, you’ll need to enter your existing Twitter account username and password into the Settings app. From the Twitter menu screen in Settings, tap the Add Account option and enter your account information.

After it's configured to work with your Twitter account, you can also manage one or more Twitter accounts using the official Twitter app. On the iPad, the commands for doing this are displayed on the left side of the screen.

On the iPhone, the main commands for using Twitter are displayed as icons at the bottom of the official Twitter app screen. Near the upper-left corner of the screen, you'll see a left-pointing arrow icon labeled Accounts, which leads to the Account Management screen of the app. At the upper-right corner of the screen is the Create Tweet icon used for composing new outgoing tweets.

The main screen area is where your Twitter feed (or Timeline) is displayed. Along the bottom of the screen, from left to right, you'll see the Timeline, Mentions, Messages, and Search icons, along with an icon composed of three dots. This icon is used to access additional commands for managing your Twitter account, such as accessing the My Profile menu, viewing a listing of tweets marked as Favorites, and accessing functions associated with creating and managing lists.

Composing an Outgoing Tweet

Using the official Twitter app, to compose an outgoing tweet, tap the Create Tweet icon. When the New Tweet screen appears, begin composing your tweet. Remember, you have up to 140 characters per tweet.

At the bottom of the New Tweet window are four icons. The @ symbol is used to address your tweet to a specific person or to mention specific Twitter users within a tweet. The # symbol is used to identify a topic or subject within a tweet. Tap the camera-shaped icon to either take a photo using your iOS device's built-in camera or attach a photo to your tweet that's already store on your device. Tap the diagonal-pointing arrow icon to manually attach your exact location to the tweet using your device's GPS capabilities.

To keep your tweets short, it's acceptable to use abbreviations. To send your tweet after it's composed, tap the Send icon that's displayed in the upper-right corner of the New Tweet window.

Replying to Tweets

As you're viewing your Timeline, if there's a tweet from someone else that you want to reply to, tap that tweet listing and then tap the Reply icon. On the iPhone, a separate Reply screen appears. On the iPad, the Reply window is displayed on the right side of the screen.

How to Re-Tweet Messages

As you're reviewing your Timeline, which includes tweets composed by the various people you're following, if you stumble upon a particular tweet that you'd like to share with your own Twitter followers, instead of retyping the message from scratch, select it and then tap the Re-Tweet option to copy that tweet and allow you to send it to your followers from your Twitter account.

How Twitter Now Integrates with Popular iOS 5 Apps

Initially, Safari, Photos, Maps, Camera, and YouTube are among the preinstalled iOS 5 apps to offer true Twitter integration. However, many third-party app developers are also starting to include this functionality in their own apps.

Many apps that have a Share icon, which allows you to send app-specific content to someone else via email or SMS/MMS message, also now offer a Tweet option that enables you to compose and share a tweet from within that app.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020