When you learn how to use Windows 8 People phone numbers and contact app, you'll find that it is easier to keep up with news about your friends. Finding a contact from LinkedIn no longer requires logging in on the website and navigating to their profile page. The information is available from the People app that is part of the newest Windows operating system. Windows 8 is far different than any previous Windows operating system. Instead of the familiar Windows start button and list of programs, the screen is covered with a collage of different-colored and different shaped tiles that open apps for Mail, Calendar, Weather, and the People phone numbers and social media app.
Sign up for a Microsoft Live account
Before your people app will be populated with everyone you know from various social media sites, you'll need to link those accounts to your Microsoft Live account. This account will be used to buy apps in the Windows app store, as well as access a SkyDrive cloud storage account and other Microsoft services. When you link other services to your Microsoft Live account, it adds features to a number of apps. When you link to your Google account, you will be able to receive Google Mail in the mail app, and be automatically logged in to your account when you open the YouTube app. When you add your Facebook account, photos that you have posted to Facebook are accessible in the Photos app.
What is "People?"
The people tile leads you to an entirely new way of connecting to the people in your life. The people app starts with an alphabetical list of all of your contacts from your address book, Facebook friends, Google+ community, LinkedIn, and Twitter (as long as you have linked those accounts to your Microsoft Live account). I really like that I can quickly find a business associate that I need contact without having to search for their name in LinkedIn or Facebook.
While you might enjoy having easy access to your friends on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, your contact list/address book might become hard to manage if you add thousands of people that you follow on Twitter. To limit your people list, you can hide contacts from different services. Although they are not in the list, you can still search for a contact that is hidden.
To hide contacts from a service, swipe in from the right edge of the screen (on the screen if it is a touchscreen computer, on the touchpad for all others). Tap on settings then Options. Here you hide contacts from different accounts—Twitter, Google+, Facebook.
This is not your typical address book. When you tap on any of your contacts, you will see information about the person, and there will be actions you can take directly from their address card. Tap on their phone number to call them on Skype or another phone app or tap to send them an email, or an instant message. Get a Bing map to their home. "What's New" brings up their latest status updates if you know them through Facebook or LinkedIn, or a list of their Tweets if they are a Twitter friend.
Below the photo of your contact is the name of the service that connects you to them (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so forth). When you tap on their "profile" link in the contact page, a new window opens with the Internet Explorer app that takes you to their profile page for that social media site on the web.
Once you get used to the People app, it becomes incredibly fast and convenient. However, if it's just too foreign for you, simply visit the social media website to view Facebook, Twitter, (and so forth) as you've done on your earlier Windows machines.
Messaging
The messaging tile will display chat messages that come to you from Facebook or your Microsoft Live Messenger chat. When you tap to send a message to a contact, the Messaging tile opens. Rather than chatting in the little inset box on the Facebook website, the messaging app is easier to read. Also, you can see all of the people with whom you are chatting, and switch back and forth regardless of whether you are chatting on Facebook or on Messenger. Plus, it displays messages that you sent from another computer or smartphone as well as those messages sent from the messaging app.
Window 8 people makes it easier to find someone and communicate with them immediately. The People live tile on the Windows 8 home screen, displays new posts from friends, photos, and notifications when they have commented on something you posted. The messaging tile will display when someone sends you a message. The mail live tile displays the subject of new messages that have been received. When you go to the home screen, the live tiles keep you connected to the People in your life.
