How To Use Twitter on Windows Phone

Microsoft’s Windows Phone takes a completely different approach to social media sharing. Instead of including single applications for Twitter and Facebook with each phone, Microsoft integrated social networks intoWindows Phone 8. Because of this users are able to send and share messages from almost any area on Windows Phone. Here’s how to use Twitter on Windows Phone to communicate with your online friends.

By default, Windows Phone will only interface with the Twitter account you added when you first set up your Windows Phone device. Windows Phone 8 itself isn’t able to connect to more than one account at a time.

Reading Messages

Open the People Hub. It’s the double wide tile represented in our screen shot by the pictures of friends on the Start Screen. As each Windows Phone’s Start Screen is configured differently, your People Hub’s tile could be smaller.

The What’s New area will automatically display the latest social updates from any social media account in one view. To see just your Twitter updates tap All Accounts and select Twitter from the drop down menu

Tap any message inside your What’s New feed to reply or retweet it. This view will also showcase entire Twitter conversations on your device. You can also tap the small reply icon to the right of each message to reply to particular messages.

Composing Twitter Messages

To create a Twitter update, open the Me Hub. By default that hub’s live tile is presented by your Microsoft Account profile photo. In our example, it’s the Live Tile with my face on it to the left. You can swipe to the right to see your latest Twitter notification inside the Me Hub as well.

Tap Post an Update to send out text updates to your Twitter account alone, or Facebook and LinkedIn as well.

Tweeting Photos & Videos

Open the Photo Hub or use the Camera app to capture the picture you would like to share. The Photos application has a dynamic tile that changes to showcase the photos that are on your device. In our photo it’s the double wide Live Tile just above Netflix.

Tap and hold on the picture or video you would like to share. Tap Share from the pop-up menu.

Select Twitter from the drop down menu.

Add your message and then tap the Share button.

Remember, by default Windows Phone will automatically integrate fully with any Twitter account that has been integrated in with the Microsoft Account you added you set up your Windows Phone. As such, it’s best if you only integrate your Windows Phone account with your personal Twitter account.

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Windows 8.1 Steals Windows Phone Features for Better Usability

Screenshots taken from the most recent leaks of Windows 8.1, the upcoming update for all Windows 8 users, indicates that with just weeks to go until availability, Microsoft is making the Windows experience easier for users to grasp by taking elements from Windows Phone 8

In this latest build of Windows 8.1, Microsoft has added a ton of small items that are designed to make the Windows 8 experience easier for users out of the box.

For starters it’s finally filled the Help & Tips application with visual, text and video tutorials for users who are new to Windows 8.1. Although the application debuted in the Windows 8.1 Preview earlier this summer, then the app consisted of only a few articles, leaving industry watchers to worry that Microsoft would miss another opportunity to educate users about Windows 8’s differences from earlier versions of Windows.

The Windows 8.1 Mail application with the updated, App Bar design at the bottom. captured by The Verge.

These builds have also revealed that Microsoft plans to boost the discovery of the App Bars inside Windows 8.1 apps. In its effort to put application interfaces at the forefront of what users see, Microsoft forced many of the options that would have normally been represented by an icon, inside small bars that fly out from the top and bottom of most applications. Instead of creating some on-screen indication that there were more options hidden inside these App Bars, Microsoft required users to swipe from the top or the bottom of an application to see these options.

In hind sight, that seems to have been a huge mistake. As Microsoft didn’t do an amazing job with educating users about navigating Windows 8, many users simply didn’t know that these options were there – and likely still don’t. With the 8.1 update, App Bars will poke out at bottom of the screen and have three dots so that users know that they are looking at an element of the application that can be opened.

There’s more in this update too, including the introduction of Skype into the default list of application that are installed on every Windows-based system, and updated versions of the Mail, People and Calendar applications according to The Verge.

It seems, Microsoft is finding inspiration in what should have been a place it already looked before building Windows 8: Windows Phone. The new Help & Tips application, minimized on-screen App Bars and the universal Bing search functionality were all inside Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.5. Even the new application drawer in Windows 8.1 first debuted on the company’s mobile operating system.

That Microsoft is making the Metro-design experience easy for users in Windows 8.1 is great, however if the features included in Windows 8.1 have revealed anything about how Microsoft developed Windows 8, it’s that it did so in complete isolation. Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine that these types of user interface lessons wouldn’t have already been implemented in the operating system.

Microsoft plans to make the Windows 8.1 update available to all Windows 8 users sometime this fall. If software identification number of this leaked version is any indication, the company is very close to finalizing the operating system already.

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How to Turn on Kids Corner on Windows Phone 8

Just as smartphones have become essential to productivity, for parents they’ve become essential to keeping kids occupied on long road trips and errands. Unfortunately, handing your child your Windows Phone could leave you vulnerable to whatever mistakes or changes they make to your device.

Thankfully, Windows Phone 8 enables an option called Kids Corner. With the option in enabled, parents can quickly rope their children’s mobile experience off into its own separate area complete with Start Screen and customization options.

Here’s how to turn on Kids Corner on Windows Phone 8 devices so that you can keep your children entertained and your information safe, all at the same time.

Open your Windows Phone’s Settings app.

Tap the Kids Corner option inside, underneath the System Settings.

Tap next to skip the explanation of Kids Corner.

Add the content that you would like to make available inside your Kids Corner Application. Tap to select each game, application, or album you wish to accessible from the Kids Corner. Then tapnext.

Tap Finish.

Your Windows Phone will immediately relock and show the Kids Corner area. On the lock screenswipe from right to left to trigger Kids Corner when your device is locked. You’ll need to enter the same PIN you’ve been using on your device if you’ve already enabled it.

The first time you or your child opens Kids Corner, they’ll be greeted by a small message reminding them to press the device’s power button to exit Kids Corner.

Kids Corner will now be filled with the apps and music that you decided to add to Kids Corner.

The Kids Corner can be customized for your child. Tap the Customize tile to add your child’s name, choose a picture for their Kids Corner lock screen or customize their Start Screen’s colors.

You’ve just enabled Kids Corner on your Windows Phone 8 device. For now on you can limit the access your children have to the applications and settings on your phone, while enabling them to watch their favorite videos and play their favorite games. You don’t need to follow these steps to activate Kids Corner every time. Instead just swipe from right to left on your device’s lock screen anytime.

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