These days, you probably spend more than a couple of hours per day browsing your favourite social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Your smartphone’s screen is way too small to make viewing videos and photos and your friend’s ramblings easy, though, and a laptop is too big and clunky. A tablet is the perfect compromise, so we’ve rounded up our favourite big-screen tablet apps for social networking.
Gizmodo’s Guide To Tablet Apps is presented by the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2: with a pixel-rich Super AMOLED display, your images and videos are sharper and more vivid than ever before. Learn more about the Galaxy Tab S2’s specs.
Facebook is the social network that we all use, even if we don’t particularly like it — it’s where everyone hangs out. To keep up to date on your friends’ antics on Facebook, your best option is to use the official Facebook app; it works pretty well on a tablet, a lot better than it used to. We’re still waiting for Facebook to release an official Android tablet app, but this solution isn’t bad for the time being.
Thousands of posts are made to Reddit daily, up- and downvoted by users to bring them into prominence on the front page. There’s nothing stopping you finding a hyper-local community subreddit, though, or even creating your own and inviting friends along. The most popular app on Android is Reddit Is Fun; it’s a community-made app with Android tablet support and an interface that works well whether you’re browsing in portrait or landscape mode. Reddit Is Fun Golden Platinum is the paid version of the app; it removes all the ads.
Twitter is a social network that’s great for shooting quick public or private messages to friends, but also for keeping up with the happenings of more casual acquaintances or even celebrities. It’s also where you’ll find the most up-to-date and breaking news. There are dozens of different unofficial Twitter clients out there on the Google Play Store, but many don’t look great on an Android tablet. For an app optimised for larger screens and multi-pane viewing, look at Tweetcaster or Robird.
Pinterest calls itself a “visual discovery tool”, and that’s exactly what it is — it’s like a social network meets a scrapbook, where you can pin your favourite images into broad categories like gardening or interior design. The official Pinterest app works extremely well on tablets; because it’s built around big, beautiful images, it’s even better to browse on a tablet than on your phone. All you need now is some visual inspiration.
Tumblr
Tumblr is an odd one; it’s a giant network of websites that stand on their own, but that also function as a social network and social messaging platform for the people using them and browsing them. Tumblr is an image- and genre-driven site, with plenty of its own in-jokes and memes, so it’s a great way to waste a couple of hours just browsing around and seeing where each website takes you. A recent update fixed its incredibly confusing commenting system, too, so it’s easy to browse.