Although Apple has offered the iPad since 2010, it took it until now to release a Facebook app for iPad. This app is worth getting because it is designed specifically with the iPad in mind and allows you to take advantage of all your iPad’s features while using Facebook.
Features
Unlike other apps you might use to access Facebook from your iPad, the Facebook for iPad app allows you to use Facebook the same way you would use it on a desktop or laptop computer. The display is similar to Facebook for computers, with a status bar on the top informing you of your notifications and the news feed on the right side of the screen. You can tap any post to like or comment on it.
If you tap on a particular item on your news feed, such as a status you want to comment on, the iPad brings up a comment feed for that post on the right hand side of the page. You can then read through and like other people’s comments on the post.
You can also easily go to your page, read your notifications, or create a status by touching the appropriate areas of the screen. The iPad allows you to easily share photos or to check in to your current location just like the iPhone or other smartphones do.
Integration of iPad Technology
The best thing about the Facebook app is that it was built with iPad technology in mind. You can use your iPad’s built-in camera to take photos and share them directly from Facebook. The Facebook app also considers the iPad’s screen–the app can be oriented in either portrait or landscape, depending on how you hold the iPad, and the messaging system was designed with the iPad’s wide screen in mind. When you look at your messages, you see the friend’s name in one column and all of his or her messages in another.
Ease of Navigation
The Facebook app is fairly easy to navigate. There’s a bar on the left-hand side of your status bar that you can tap to bring up navigation options; you can easily tap through to see a friend’s profile, go to your own or read your messages. Friends are listed in alphabetical order when you tap on “go to friend’s profile;” however, you can easily navigate to the friend you want by taking advantage of the A-Z directory listing.
Ability to Multitask
One advantage the iPad app for Facebook has over the desktop version is that you can do several things on Facebook at once. For example, you can read and respond to messages without exiting your News Feed so that you can still catch up on what your friends are doing while you respond to a particular friend’s message. You can also chat with friends while browsing your news feed by swiping from right to left while using landscape orientation.
Make Plans Easily
The check-in feature on the iPad Facebook app allows you to see where your friends are checked in so that if they’re nearby, you can easily contact them and make plans.
Disadvantages
There are very few disadvantages to the iPad Facebook app. Since the iPad uses Wi-Fi technology rather than GPS, your check-ins may not be as accurate as you would like; otherwise, the Facebook app for iPad gives users a pleasurable experience that is comprable to surfing Facebook from a desktop or laptop computer.
Read more: New iPad’s Facebook App