Chapter 13: Social Networking with Windows 8.1

IN THIS CHAPTER

Using the People app

Setting up social media accounts

Viewing social media activity

Navigating the People app

One of the most popular activities online is communicating using social media programs, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google +, and YouTube.

The updated Windows 8.1 People app lets you integrate your contacts and updates from multiple social network sites such as Windows Live, Facebook, and Twitter into one single location for that person. For Windows users, at least, it has now become the de facto hub for all your social media accounts. Also, the Mail and Messaging apps rely on the People app for selecting contacts to send e-mail and instant messages.

This chapter explores how to access various social media programs in Windows 8.1, including using the People app to consolidate many of your favorite social media communications into one app.

Using the People App

The Windows 8.1 People app is provided on the Windows Start screen when you install Windows 8.1. Figure 13.1 shows the People live tile. This tile displays information, updates, status changes, and photo changes for contacts you follow on different social media tools. For example, the information shown in Figure 13.1 shows Facebook friends.

Setting up a social media account

You won't see any live updates on your People app if you haven't set up any social media accounts under Windows 8.1 yet. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Show the Windows Start screen.
2. Click the People app. The People app screen appears. (See Figure 13.2.)
3. To add accounts to People, click the Me link and click the OK button under the Go to Settings to Add Your Social Networks and Social Accounts link. Click a social media tool to set up your account information for it (see Figure 13.3).
4. Click Connect to connect Twitter to your Microsoft account. The Connecting to a Service screen appears.

   

5. Enter your Twitter username and password to authorize Microsoft to use your account to read tweets, see whom you follow, and perform other tasks as they relate to using the Twitter service (see Figure 13.4). A similar screen appears for the other social media services you set up with the People app.
6. Click Remember Me if you want the People app to store your username and password.
7. Click Authorize App. After a few moments, you are shown the You're Ready to Go screen, shown in Figure 13.5.
8. Click Done.

After you set up one account, return to the main People app screen. You can choose to set up other accounts, such as Exchange or Google accounts from the Add People to Your Contact List area. You can click the Add More Accounts link to see additional accounts you can set up.

Viewing social media activity

The People app is currently designed to allow you to view activity of your contacts and see their social media messages, status updates, and photos. It's divided into three main areas: People, What's New, and Me. By default, the People view shows you a list of your favorite contacts and then a list of your contacts from Twitter, Exchange, Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Hotmail accounts.

Figure 13.6 shows an example of the first screen of the People app. This screen is set up to include Favorites on the left side, with a list of contacts to the right. Figure 13.7 shows how contacts are listed in the People app.

To view a contact's current information and postings, click that person's tile. A contact card like the one shown in Figure 13.8 appears. On that card, you can do the following:

• View a current photo of the contact.
• Send a message.
• Get a Bing map of the contact's location.
• View the contact's profile information. Click the down arrow and click More Details to see additional profile information, such as full address if available.
• Like and comment on Facebook comments, and retweet and reply to tweets (on Twitter).

The All Updates button shows an expanded view of photos, uploads, status changes, postings, and so forth. Photos shows profile pictures, albums, and other photographic features posted by the contact.

When you return to the first screen of your People app, the second main area is What's New (see Figure 13.9). When you click What's New, you're shown the latest posting by people in your list of contacts. By looking at the bottom of each posting, you can see which social media tool was used to post that message.

The final main area is the Me area (see Figure 13.10). Me shows the contact card set up for you, any recent updates and postings you've made, updates, and notifications. The notification area shows messages sent to you or comments made on one of your Facebook posts. The photos section shows photos you've posted and profile pictures. Right-click and choose Edit to display your profile for you to edit.

Navigating the People app

The People app is fairly easy to navigate by using your mouse or touchscreen actions (such as swiping to the left or right). You can display the People app menu by right-clicking. Contextual commands for the items you're currently viewing display in that menu. Also, the People button returns you to the main People app screen when you click it.

All Contacts

The All Contacts screen lets you easily find the name of the contact you're looking for. The letter grid lets you jump to the first letter of the person's name you're looking for. When you click a contact, you're shown all the posts and photos your contact has recently posted.

Wrap-Up

Social networking is one of the most popular shared activities in the world. Windows 8.1 makes it easy to follow all your contacts in one central location using the People app.

Here's a quick summary of the main points presented in this chapter:

• You use the People app to follow your contacts’ activities in social media tools.
• The People app supports many social media forums like Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, Exchange, and Hotmail.
• The People app is divided into three main areas: People, What's New, and Me.