Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Digital Social Life
6. Tap the Post button to share your thoughts
You can set your status also by using the Facebook widget on the tablet’s Home page, if it has been installed: Tap the What’s on Your Mind text box, type your important news tidbit, and tap the Share button.
To cancel a post, tap the Back button. Tap the Discard button to confirm.
Uploading a picture to Facebook
One of the many things your Android tablet can do is take pictures. Combine this feature with the Facebook app and you have an all‐in‐one gizmo designed for sharing the various intimate and private moments of your life with the ogling throngs of the Internet.
The picture posting process starts by tapping the Photo icon in the Facebook app. Refer to Figures 9-1 and 9-2 for popular Photo icon locations on the main screen and the Write Post screen. After tapping the Photo icon, you have two choices:
✓First, you can select an image from pictures shown on the screen. These are images found on your tablet. Tap an image, or tap several images to select a bunch, and then tap the Done button.
✓Second, you can take a picture by using the tablet’s camera; tap the Add Photo icon in the upper right corner of the screen, as shown in the margin.
If you elect to use the camera to take a picture, you switch to the Camera app. Snap the photo. You see a review screen, similar to the one shown in Figure 9-3, although not every tablet uses the same Camera app.
Tap the Retry button to take another image, or tap Done or OK and get ready to post the image to Facebook. Tap Cancel to abandon your efforts.
After you select the image, it appears on a new post screen. Continue to create the post as described earlier in this chapter. Tap the Post button. The image can be found as part of your status update or News Feed, and it’s also saved to your Mobile Uploads album on Facebook.
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✓See Chapter 11 for more information on using the tablet’s camera.
✓I find it easier to take a bunch of images by using the Camera app and then choose an image later to upload it to Facebook.
✓The Facebook app appears on the Share menus available in other apps on the tablet. Choose that Share command to send to Facebook what- ever it is you’re looking at or listening to: a video, an image, or some music, for example.
Configuring the Facebook app
Options to control the Facebook app are stored on the Settings screen, which you access by touching the More icon while viewing the main Facebook
Figure 9-3: Adding an image to Facebook.
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screen. (Refer to Figure 9-1 for the location of the More icon.) Choose the App Settings action.
Choose Refresh Interval to specify how frequently the app checks for new updates and activities. You might find the 1‐hour value to be too long for your frantic Facebook social life, so choose something quicker. Or, to disable Facebook automatic updates, choose Never.
To prevent videos from playing the instant you see one in the News Feed, choose the Video Auto‐Play command. Choose Off to disable that feature.
Choose the Notification Ringtone item to the sound that plays when
Facebook has a new update. Choose the Silent option to mute update sounds.
Tap the Back icon to return to the main Facebook screen.
The Tweet Life
Twitter is a social networking site, similar to Facebook but far briefer. On Twitter, you write short spurts of text that express your thoughts or observa- tions, or you share links. Or you can just use Twitter to follow the thoughts and twitterings, or tweets, of other people.
✓A message posted on Twitter is a tweet.
✓A tweet can be no more than 140 characters long, including spaces and punctuation.
✓You can post messages on Twitter and follow others who post messages.
It’s a good way to get updates and information quickly, from not only individuals but also news outlets, corporations, various organizations, and evil robots.
Setting up Twitter
Your Android tablet most likely didn’t come with the Twitter app installed.
So your first step into the twitterverse involves getting the app: Visit the Play Store and search for the Twitter app from Twitter, Inc. Install that app; use the directions in Chapter 15 if you need assistance.
After the Twitter app is installed, open it.
You can sign in to Twitter by using your Google (Gmail) account, create a new account, or use an existing account. These options are presented when the Twitter app first runs. For example, tap Create My Account to set up a new account or tap Log In to sign in with an existing account.
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You may be asked whether you want the tablet to “use” your Twitter account. If you allow access, your tablet can make Twitter posts for you, which isn’t something I want, so I tapped the Cancel button.
Figure 9-4 shows the Twitter app’s main screen, which shows the current tweet feed. The Twitter app is updated frequently, so its exact appearance may change after this book has gone to press.
See the next section for information on tweeting, or updating your status using the Twitter app.
The Twitter app comes with companion widgets you can affix to the Home screen. Use the widgets to peruse recent tweets or compose a new tweet. Refer to Chapter 18 for information on affixing widgets to the Home screen.
Tweeting
The Twitter app provides an excellent interface to the many wonderful and interesting things that Twitter does. Of course, the two most basic tasks are reading and writing tweets.
Figure 9-4: The Twitter app.
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To read tweets, choose the Home category, shown in Figure 9-4. Recent tweets are displayed in a list, with the most recent information at the top.
Scroll the list by swiping it with your finger. To update the list, swipe from the middle of the screen downward.
To tweet, touch the New Tweet icon (refer to Figure 9-4). Use the New Tweet screen, shown in Figure 9-5, to compose your tweet.
Tap the Location item to add your current whereabouts to the tweet. Tap the Photo icon to add an image or a video from the tablet’s gallery.
Touch the Tweet button to share your thoughts with the twitterverse. If you chicken out, touch the Back button and choose Discard.
✓You have only 140 characters, including spaces, for creating your tweet.
That includes spaces.
✓The character counter in the Twitter app lets you know how close you’re getting to the 140‐character limit.
✓The Twitter app appears on various Share menus in other apps. You use those Share menus to send to Twitter whatever you’re looking at.
Figure 9-5: Creating a tweet.
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More Social Networking Opportunities
The Internet is brimming with social networking opportunities. Facebook may be the king, but lots of landed gentry are eager for that crown. It almost seems as though a new social networking site pops up every week. Beyond Facebook and Twitter, other social networking sites include, but are not limited to
✓Google+
✓Meebo
✓Myspace
Apps for these services are obtained from the Google Play Store. You can use the app itself to sign up for an account or log in using an existing account.
✓See Chapter 15 for more information on the Google Play Store.
✓Google+ is Google’s social networking app, which is related to the Hangouts app. See Chapter 8 for information on using Hangouts.
✓The HootSuite app can be used to share your thoughts on a multitude of social networking platforms.
✓As with Facebook and Twitter, your social networking apps might appear on various Share menus on the Android tablet. That way, you can easily share your pictures and other types of media with your online social net- working pals.
Part III
Omni Tablet
Add old‐time photo effects to your images. Learn how at www.dummies.com/
extras/androidtablets.
In this part . . .
✓ Discover your location, find interesting things nearby, and never be lost again.
✓ Augment your digital photo album by capturing images and recording video.
✓ Organize images on your tablet and share pictures with others.
✓ Transfer music from your computer and enjoy it on your Android tablet.
✓ Schedule your personal and professional life by using the tab- let’s Calendar app.
✓ Enjoy an eBook on the road or wherever you take your tablet.
There’s a Map for That
In This Chapter
▶Exploring your world with Maps
▶Adding layers to the map
▶Finding your location
▶Sharing your location
▶Searching for places
▶Saving a map for later
▶Using your tablet as a navigator
I’m hoping that teleportation becomes a reality someday. It would be so convenient to travel instantly, to get where you’re going without sitting in a cramped cabin. In fact, the only mystery will be whether teleporta-
tion has the same knack for losing your luggage as air travel.
One thing our fortunate descendants probably won’t complain about is being lost. That’s because their Android tablets will tell them exactly where they are, thanks to the Maps app. They’ll be able to find all sorts of things, from tacos in pill form to used flying cars to Hello Kitty light sabers. Because it’s the future, they might even be able to use the futur- istic version of an Android tablet to find their lost luggage.
A Map That Needs No Folding
You can find your location, as well as the location of things near and far, by using the Maps app on your Android tablet. Good news: You run no risk of improperly folding the Maps app. Better news:
The Maps app charts the entire country, including freeways, highways, roads, streets, avenues, drives, bike paths, addresses, businesses, and points of interest.
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Using the Maps app
You start the Maps app by choosing Maps from the Apps drawer. If you’re starting the app for the first time or it has been recently updated, you can read the What’s New screen; tap the OK button to continue.
Your tablet communicates with Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to hone in on your current location. (See the later sidebar “Activate your loca- tion!”) The position is accurate to within a given range, referenced by a blue circle around your location on the map, as shown in Figure 10-1. If the circle doesn’t appear, your location is either pretty darn accurate or you need to zoom in.
Figure 10-1: Your location on a map.
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