This Mac tip is provided by Mark Greentree and was originally posted on Mark’s blog – Everyday Mac Support. For more of Mark’s tips visit his site, follow him on Twitter, or browse his archive of posts here.
How To: Using Twitter Directly In iOS 5
Twitter is a social networking site with a difference. Users are limited to 140 character messages. Through the service you can share everything from website addresses to photographs. With the release of iOS 5 Apple has brought Twitter integration to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPhone.
Regardless of the device you are using you will need to have the official Twitter app installed in order to use this functionality. If you don’t have it installed then you will be prompted to do so from the Settings area of your device.
In order to activate and further look at this functionality please proceed to the Settings area of your device. Doing so will present the following view.
As you can see the I have highlighted the Twitter settings area which is in the main directory. Simply tap and you will be presented with the following view:
You will notice in the image above that I have yet to install the official Twitter app and do not yet have an account. Simply tap the install button to proceed.
If you do have the official Twitter app installed then you can proceed to creating a new Twitter account or entering your existing User Name and Password.
If you don’t have a Twitter account you can create one directly on you iOS device by tapping Create New Account at the bottom of the display.
You will then be presented with the following screen where you simply give a few basic details about yourself and upon proceeding your account will be created:
Once signed in you can update your contacts. In this instance Twitter will search through your Address Book and will match to see if any of contacts have a Twitter accounts.
Tapping on your username will present you with the following information:
Two areas to take specific notice of are Find Me by Email and Tweet Location. By default these options are turned on and I would suggest if you don’t wish to be found via email or for your location to be published that you should turn these options off.
From this menu you can also delete you account. Please note you will not delete you actual Twitter account. You will simply remove it from the iOS device.
Going back to the main page you will notice down the bottom of the display that you have an area allowing you to turn on specific apps which support Twitter integration. This functionality is application specific and app developers need to enable the feature.
Once setup you will be able to Tweet from any supported app. If we use the camera for instance you will notice when going to the camera roll, selecting a photograph, and tapping on the action button, you will be given the option to Tweet as shown below:
Simply type a message, show the location if you wish, and share the photo in the paperclip shown.
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