Expert

ConneCt with soCial appsCatch up with Facebook, Twitter and more

1 Connect all of your social networks

It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of social networking sites out there, but luckily there are Windows 8 apps to help you manage them. We’ve collected eight of our favourites, so you can keep an eye on what’s happening, make Skype calls, send instant messages, tweet or post things to Facebook quickly and easily . Many of these apps also feature Live tiles, so you can see what’s going on from the Start screen itself.

Expert

ConneCt with soCial appsCatch up with Facebook, Twitter and more

3 Use Skype to chat with friends

Skype is one of the most popular video chat services around – and for a good reason! It lets you call friends and family all over the world for free, helping you slash a huge chunk off your phone bill. The Windows 8 app lets you see recent calls and chats made on multiple Skype devices, along with your favourite contacts and people you’ve talked to recently. Alternatively, you can choose to see your full address book as tiles.

4 Organise updates with FlipToast

This versatile app enables you to see updates from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram all in one place, saving you time and hassle. FlipToast’s main page shows you the most recent status updates, photos, notifications, messages, birthdays and your first 20 or so friends. Click or tap a pane to display a longer list of each. If you’d like to see updates from just one service, pinch to zoom out and you’ll see a set of tiles to pick from.

2 Get tweeting with MetroTwit

There’s no official Twitter client for Windows 8 as yet, but instead there are several good third-party options out there. MetroTwit is specifically designed to work with the Windows 8 interface and looks great when running full-screen, although you can only see two columns at once (such as your timeline and @replies). There’s also a clear bar for writing new tweets, and previews of web links open in a nice large pane.

8 Keep up with friends with MINE

for FacebookOne of the best Facebook clients we’ve seen for Windows 8 – MINE enables you to see your Facebook feed the way you want it. You can just view it in standard mode, and see your timeline, post updates, comment and ‘Like’ posts, or you can customise all your feeds until they exactly match what you want to see when you log in to Facebook.

7 Audioboo: the global radio

Audioboo is an app for browsing and listening to audio clips (which it calls ‘boos’) from all around the world. You can listen to the latest featured and trending boos, or browse channels from the BBC, Sky News, Absolute Radio and many more. Using the app in snapped view means that you can listen to boos while carrying out other tasks.

6 Use Rowi for Twitter essentials

Rowi doesn’t have a Live tile, and its black and green interface only has room for one column of tweets and one of photos, but this has the advantage of leaving lots of space to display each tweet in a large font, along with its replies. It’s not the most comprehensive Twitter experience available, but it’s fine if you’re not a big Twitter user and don’t want an app cluttered with bells and whistles that you aren’t likely to use.

5 Keep in contact with IM+

Whatever instant messaging service you use, it’s probably covered by IM+. It currently supports Google, Jabber, ICQ, AOL, Facebook, Skype and Yahoo!, plus international services like Renren and Yandex. There are plenty of handy options, from blocking people you don’t know to getting email alerts for messages you miss when offline.

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