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Below you’ll find the entire overview/guide of the new Facebook application for the BlackBerry which was made by RIM.

Before you download the application, you can take a look at a video preview we made of the application so you can “try before you buy” (the application is free, but you get what we mean):

NOTE: Before you download the Facebook Application for your BlackBerry, you will have to ensure that you are meeting the minimum system requirements. You will need:

• BlackBerry device with 64MB or more of memory.
• 165KB of available device memory.
• BlackBerry Device Software Version 4.2 or later.
• A wireless service data plan.
• In Facebook, change your email settings so that the notification email is sent to an address associated with your BlackBerry.
• In Facebook, turn on all of the notifications you wish to receive on your BlackBerry.

Downloading the software

Getting the new Facebook application for your BlackBerry is quick and painless. Simply head on over to the following URL and click on the “Get Facebook for BlackBerry” button (this url will be presented to BlackBerry users who access m.Facebook.com from their BlackBerry as well):
Download the Facebook application for BlackBerry smartphones here.

Clicking this link will take you over to the official RIM application download page. Here you will be presented with two options. The first is to enter your email address and have the download information sent to your inbox (be sure to use the email associated with your BlackBerry so you can click the link from your BlackBerry upon receiving it). The second option allows you to complete the download online.

Choose your desired method and click next.

(Note/pet peeve):Once you have completed this process, ideally you would be redirected back to Facebook; however this is not the case. A minor annoyance to be sure, but an easy fix to enhance the user experience. Are you listening RIM?

Assuming you’ve taken the email (easiest) option, once you have received the email from RIM in your inbox, open it and click the provided link. You will be taken to a Terms of Service (TOS) agreement which you will have to accept before proceeding with your download and install.

After agreeing to the TOS and clicking the install button, you will be prompted to enter your login information for Facebook.

That’s it. You will now see a small Facebook icon on your BlackBerry display. Click this icon and dive into the world of mobile Facebooking!

Overview

A quick read of the presented features of this application reveals that, while you are not given access to all of Facebook’s extended feature set, you will have a good portion of the sites core functionality on your BlackBerry. Like with BlackBerry Messenger, you’ll see a Facebook icon at the top of your BlackBerry screen whenever you have a new Facebook notification.

You will have access to home screen notifications, presenting you with new messages or wall posts. All of these are presented with full text (unlike to standard mobile notifications via SMS that cut off after a certain amount of words). You can also choose to be notified whenever you get poked by a friend, or if you have been tagged in a new photo that has been uploaded to the network. Friend requests will be delivered straight to your BlackBerry in real time. Now those strangers/stalkers who ask to friend you can be denied right away, saving them the pain and anxiety of waiting for you to log in and deny them later. (This is very considerate of you BTW).

Viewing of your friends list is also placed right there at your fingertips. No more waiting with baited breath until you get to a computer to send your friend a snarky little note, or an update on the great deal on shoes you just found. Simply scroll your list and tap away. The two of you will be trying on those shoes together in no time. I suggest you send a private message though. After all, you don’t want your entire network getting their hands on those adorable Steve Maddens do you?

Photo sharing has been upgraded from its old functionality in mobile Facebook. It is now head and shoulders above the previous method of texting your image to your mobile account. With the Facebook application installed on any BlackBerry featuring a camera (which basically means the Pearl or the Curve), posting a new picture couldn’t be easier. Go ahead, take that picture of your passed out friend after you have artistically “modified” their face with a sharpie, an electric razor, and a handful of cheese doodles. One click later and it is on Facebook in all its revealing glory.

Getting Started

It is time to get started. Upon clicking the Facebook icon on your BlackBerry display, you will be presented with the following screen:

You will notice that there are seven activity icons positioned across the top of the display. This allows for easy access and an intuitive user experience. Below these activity icons is where your message alerts are displayed. Every time a new alert is sent to your BlackBerry it will be added to this list, with the most recent alert being placed at the top of the list.

Reading Your Facebook Notifications

When you first log into your Facebook application, you will be presented with your most recent notifications arranged in descending order. To view any of these notifications in detail, you simply scroll down until the desired notification is highlighted and click the trackball (or trackwheel).

The subsequent screen will display the full text and images contained in whichever notification you have received. If you are viewing a message from one of your friends, the current message is displayed at the top of your screen and any previous messages from that individual are shown below.

Uploading a photo

This feature couldn’t have been made any simpler. In order to upload any photo from you BlackBerry to your Facebook account, all you need to do is click the “upload photo” button.

Once clicked, you will be taken to your image folders on your BlackBerry. You have the option of choosing either a pre-loaded image or one stored in your Device Memory.

Choosing and captioning a photo for upload

Navigate to the desired photo and click the trackball (or trackwheel). You will be presented with a pop-up box which includes a field for “Caption” and a field for the target album. Enter the witty caption that you wish associated with the chosen image and choose an album from the available list (see the available list of albums by highlighting the current album and clicking the trackball (or trackwheel)).

Tagging a photo

You will notice that there is a button that reads “Tag This Photo” in the lower right corner of the pop-up box. This handy implementation allows you to select any of your friends from your friends list and have the photo tagged with their names. Click the “Tag This Photo”. You will now see a thumbnail of the photo set to be uploaded, as well as a button in the top right corner which reads “Add”.

Clicking on the add button will bring up a red crosshair icon which you can manoeuvre around the photo. When the crosshairs are over the desired portion of the photo, click the trackball (or trackwheel).

You will now be given a list of all of your friends which you can choose as a tag.

Press “Continue” to repeat this process as many times as necessary and then click the done button in the lower right of your screen.

You will be brought to the previous screen where you can verify the caption and destination album.

If all of this information is complete, click on the “Upload” button in the bottom left corner of your display.

Viewing your Friends List

When you click on the “View Friends List” button at the top of your display, you will be shown a complete list of all of your friends. You will notice that any friends, who have an updated status, will have this status listed beside their name in the list.

To check out any one particular profile, scroll down until their name is highlighted and click the trackball (or trackwheel). Alternately, you may begin typing the friends name into the provided field. The more data entered, the smaller the list of available friends becomes, thus narrowing down your selection to the desired friend.

The next screen you will see is a list of options as to how you can interact with the chosen friend. The standard options apply here. Poke them, write on their wall, send them a message, or view their full profile.

Clicking on “View Profile” will bring up that friends complete profile, temporarily taking you away from your personal information.

Navigating a friends profile

Once you have chosen to navigate a friends’ profile, you will no longer see the top level navigation for the Facebook on BlackBerry application. In order to get back to navigating your profile and notifications, you need to hit the back button on your BlackBerry’s keyboard.

Immediately at the top of your display you will see two buttons labelled “Message” and “Poke”. Use these options to either send a quick poke to a friend, or send them a private message to their inbox.

If you have image display enabled on your BlackBerry you will be shown the profile picture for whichever account you are viewing. You will notice that rolling over the display image shows a dashed border, indicating it is clickable. Clicking on this image will bring you to the profile picture album associated with this profile.

Scrolling down a little, you will start to see the public content of your friends’ Facebook profile. The default format for this profile content is condensed. Scrolling to the bottom of the “essential information”, you are given the option of viewing the full profile.

Click this button to see all available profile content for the person you are stalking.

Below the profile information, you will see the word “Wall” and a blank dialog box. If you are struck with inspiration at this point, why not let your friend know all about it. Fill in your juiciest bit of gossip and then click on the “Post” button, located immediately below the dialog box you just typed in.

Below the wall posting area, you will notice a few more buttons arranged vertically along the left side of the screen:

Photos: Clicking this will bring up all images which have been tagged as picturing your friend (the one whose profile you are currently viewing). You will be given the option at the top of this screen to go back to the profile you were previously viewing.

Clicking on any picture will bring up the actual image and a comments dialog box. Click around and add any comments you wish to the image you are viewing by typing them into the available comments box. When you are finished with an image, click on the “Back to Album” button near the top left of your screen.

If you are finished viewing and commenting on available images, you can choose to head back to that friends’ profile again. To do this, click the “View Profile button located near the top left of your screen.

Albums: Clicking this will bring up a listing of the albums that have been uploaded by the person whose profile you are viewing. Navigate these pictures the same way as you would images.

Message: Pretty self explanatory, click this button to send your friend a message.

Poke: Poke your friend, but not too hard.

Notes: Clicking this button will take you to any notes that your friend may have written. Interestingly enough, it appears that this is the only place you have the option to view all of your notes and friends notes, as well as notes written about you. (Look for those links below the content on your BlackBerry display.) Clicking the name of the person who wrote the note will take you back to that person’s profile.

Wall: Choosing this option will take you directly to the wall of the individual whose profile you are viewing. Click on the link that says “Back to _______ profile” to head back to the profile you just came from.

Home: This button will take you to your Facebook Home Page.

Profile: Clicking this button will display your Facebook profile.

Friends: Clicking the friends button will take you to a display of all of your friends who have recently updated their profiles. Like the big box version of Facebook, you are presented with the option to see more of your friends, and filter the list in various ways.

Inbox: Clicking on the Inbox button will take you right to your inbox, containing all of your Facebook Notifications.

Invite a Friend

Click on the “Invite a Friend” button at the top of your display. The screen that follows will show a box with two fields. The first is labelled Email. This is where you enter the email address of the person you would like to invite to Facebook. The second field is where you enter an (optional) message to go out with your request.

Once you are finished writing the heartfelt plea to join your Facebook network (yes we all know you are just trying to break into double digits), click the button in the lower right corner labeled “Invite”.

Now sit back and wait for another friend to be sucked into the life of Social Networking.

Poke a Friend

Click on the “Poke Someone” button located at the top of your screen. You will be presented with a dialog box, prompting you to enter a friends’ name. Similar to many of the other features available in the Facebook for BlackBerry application, as you type, it will pare down your friends list so that the desired friend is located quickly.

Choose the right friend, then poke away!

Write on a Friends Wall

When you click on the “Write on a Wall” button, you will be taken to a dialog box where you can begin entering the name of the friend whose wall you would like to desecrate. Again, as you begin typing, you will see the available options narrow until you have the friend you require highlighted. Click the “Continue” button to be taken to a screen where you can write your wall post.

Once you have crafted you insightful wall post, click on the “Post” button in the bottom right of your display. Your wall post has now been submitted to your friend’s wall for everyone who can access their profile to see.

Sending Messages to Friends and Facebookers

Not satisfied with just a plain ole poke? Do you want to send a friend a message that is a little too taboo for public wall post consumption? If you find yourself thinking either of these before contacting a friend on Facebook, then use the “Send a Message” button in the main Facebook application Navigation.

Click on the “Send a Message” button to bring up a dialog box like the ones described in the poking and wall writing sections above.

Enter your friends name and select it once it is highlighted, by clicking the trackball (or trackwheel). Click the button labeled “Continue” in the lower right.

The next screen will have two fields for you to fill in. The first is the “Subject” and the second is the “Body”. Fill in the subject of your message as you would any email you have ever sent before. The body of your message is where you place the question or comment you wish to send your friend.

Once these two fields have been filled out to your satisfaction, click the send button in the lower right corner of your display.

Voila, message delivered.

What the Application is Missing

All of the above features make for one awesome application. But much like the traditional mobile version of Facebook, there are a few things we’d like to see RIM incorporate into the application.

The Events feature from Facebook is completely missing from the application. Not only can you not view events from within the application, but if someone posts on the wall of one of your events, it sends a message telling you so, but requires you to click on a link and log into the main version of Facebook to actually see the wall post. However, event invitations are delivered with full text.

Additionally, while the photo functionality is much better than the plain mobile version of Facebook, it still leaves a few things to be desired. First, if someone tags you in a photo or requests to tag one of your photos, it sends a message to the RIM Facebook application, but as with the event notifications, it requires you to log into the traditional version of Facebook to see those tag requests. If someone else tags photos of you, it sends you a notification to let you know, but doesn’t show the pictures within the notification. Also, while you can upload photos via the application, you can’t view the photos you already have on Facebook. You can view a friend’s albums from their profile as detailed above, but there seems to be no way to access your own albums quickly and easily (you can however hunt around to find your own name linked someone, such as on the wall of a friend, to click it and be taken to your own profile where you can then access your albums, but we would prefer a faster – and lazier – way).

Comments on your videos also suffer the same fate of requiring you to log into the traditional Facebook site to see them.

Lastly, the application also doesn’t “sync” with Facebook. If you log into Facebook and read new wall posts and open new messages, your BlackBerry doesn’t recognize that you’ve done this. You have to open the notifications on your BlackBerry for them to stop appearing as unread. Luckily, like with your email on the BlackBerry, you can click the trackball (or trackwheel) on a date within the main screen and tell it to “mark prior opened” or “delete prior”.

So here you have our complete guide. As if BlackBerry wasn’t addicting enough alone, they add Facebook which means you’ll get yelled at twice as much by your friends and family for hitting the BlackBerry pipe way too often. ;-)

And while you’re on Facebook, become a member of the BB Geeks fan page!

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