Mobile Devices

May 17, 2013

Blackberry Launches BBM Channels to Expand Social Engagement

In an effort to enhance its social media capabilities, BlackBerry has added a new feature called BBM Channels within its mobile social network.

BBM Channels, currently available as a beta version in BlackBerry Messenger, is a social engagement platform that enables users to establish contact with people and communities that they are interested in.

"BBM is the best way to stay connected, and with today's announcement, we're again expanding the capabilities of the service to provide a deeper real-time engagement experience for people to connect with brands, business, and communities that matter most to them," Andrew Bocking, executive vice president of Software Product Management and Ecosystem at BlackBerry, said in a statement.

With the new feature, people can create their own channels and make them available to others, browse and view profiles of existing channels, share invitations to channels within a BBM chat by providing the intended recipient with either the channel's PIN or QR code, subscribe to channels to receive updates and notifications when new posts are made on the channel, and comment on and like posts displayed on channels. Channel owners will also be able to monitor engagement and interaction on their channel with the availability of easily-to-use built-in measuring tools.

While BlackBerry is working with popular global brands to develop BBM Channels, one such brand that is already available is the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team.

BBM Channels can be downloaded on BlackBerry 10 smartphones and smartphones running BlackBerry 5 OS through 7.1. The beta version is available for free on BlackBerry Beta Zone. 

BBM Channels will surely attract a large number of individuals, as there are over 60 million BBM customers, as noted by Bocking.

In related company news, BlackBerry has announced that it will make its BBM instant messaging system freely available to iPhone and Android users later this year.




Edited by Jamie Epstein


comments powered by Disqus

FOLLOW MobilityTechzone

Subscribe to MobilityTechzone eNews

MobilityTechzone eNews delivers the latest news impacting technology in the Wireless industry each week. Sign up to receive FREE breaking news today!
FREE eNewsletter