Photos: Facebook's iPad app - the social network in an Apple tablet

Facebook for iPad app includes chat function and full-screen photo viewing...

Social networking giant Facebook recently launched its first iPad app, which is available for download from the App Store.

The app is designed to allow people to browse and update Facebook, as well as to play Facebook games on the go.

The app features a navigation menu on the left-hand side of the screen which gives users quick access to games, apps, groups and favourites.

Notifications and friend requests are displayed at the top of the News Feed, mirroring the layout of Facebook's full browser site.

The app also includes a chat function so users can IM their Facebook friends from an iPad.

The iPad app displays Facebook friends using their profile pictures as icons rather than a list of names, as on the iPhone app and website.

Users can read messages by tapping the message headers on the left-hand side of the screen to bring up the message thread.

This layout allows users to jump from one conversation to another without having to go back to a main message page. Users can also post a reply to a message from within the app.

The app displays the location of Facebook friends who are nearby on a map. To show up on the map, the user's friends must have chosen to share their location by checking in to Facebook Places.

Users can view all their photo albums on the Photos page and can edit existing albums or create new albums on the app.

Once a photo album has been selected, photos can be displayed full-screen.

Users can then flick through the photos in order or use the thumbnail strip at the bottom of the screen to skip to specific images.