Industry coverage, news, original feature articles, how to guides, videos, podcasts and reviews of BlackBerry service providers, software, accessories, hosted exchange providers and more

So you have a BlackBerry and you have an urgent need to connect with other like minded BlackBerry owners. By default, you already have one of the best applications for accomplishing this goal right at your fingertips with the BlckBerry Messenger.

Using the BlackBerry Messenger you can instantly communicate with any other BlackBerry user by simply entering their PIN number. RIM has been kind enough to provide you with graphic indicators of message delivery status so you know whether or not your friend has received your message.

The question remains though: How do I get peoples BlackBerry PIN numbers?

Ladies and Gentlemen I introduce to you BBMNATION.com!

Social Networking With Your BlackBerry

During some random BlackBerry Googling a short while ago, I ran across the BBMNATION. With its minimalist design (light text on a solid black background), it might be easy to dismiss this site on first glance. After a little digging however, you will uncover a large number of BlackBerry owners who are looking to socially network just like you.

At the time of writing, there are 795 individuals who have created profiles on the BBMNATION (including me, Cooper). That is a strong number of participants for a site that is not even 6 months old. Clearly this community is growing and I would suggest signing up to meet some really cool people. Who knows who you will discover here.

Your Guided Tour to the BBMNATION

At the very top of the site you will the navigation options. This site is sparse in layout, so there are not many things to see. Your options are: Home, Search, Create Account, Help, Inbox, My Friends, Privacy, Browse and Login.

Let’s start with the Home page

Here you will find a brief description of the site and what it does. Namely, helping people connect with other BlackBerry users around them via BlackBerry PIN.

On this page you will also find a login area and a showcase of profiles recently added to the network.

Next up we have the Search page.

Here you are given three criteria that you can enter to assist in your search for an individual member of the BBMNATION. You can search using someones first name, last name (required) and their email address. Simple as that, enter the data and if your frien is in the network and not using an assumed name, it should be pretty easy to locate them.

The Help page is really jut a frequently asked questions page. They seem to cover the relevant material here and they do answer the most important question. That being: Who can see my PIN or my Email?

The answer to this is: Only the people who you have accepted as friends will be able to see your personal information.

On this page you will also find a link to Steves profile. Steve is one of the creators of the BBMNATION and seems more than willing to answer any questions you may have that the FAQ does not answer.

Browsing the profiles on the BBMNATION network

When you click on the Browse button in the navigation you are taken to a page which contains the complete profile list for the BBMNATION. Each mini profile contains an individuals name, picture, a starred out PIN number and a link to add them as a friend or send them a message.

You are able to drill down another level by clicking on the profile picture to see a larger version and the members full profile. Inside the in depth profile view, there is an option to view more pictures of the individual. This functionality is still being implemented into the site, but is a welcome addition that is expected from a social networking site.

The final option while browsing a profile is to view the individuals friends. This is a great way to see who knows who and get a feel for what people are into. This is also something that is expected and I was glad to see it included.

Creating Your Account on the BBMNATION

Creating an account is as simple as you would imagine. If you have set up an account on any social networking website in the past then this will be no different. Simply fill in the various fields (first and last name, location, school, occupation, interests etc… and of course your BlackBerry PIN) and you will be off to the races.

Oh, you will also have to enter in a brief description of yourself and upload a photo.

Once you have successfully entered all of the relevant data, you will be greeted with a confirmation of sign up and image upload success. An email is also sent out to your address to confirm that you indeed wish to sign up and participate in the network.

Checking your mail, viewing your friends and changing your privacy settings

All three of these options become available to you once you have created your account. They are all straight forward and easy to do. Whenever you receive a message from another member of the BBMNATION, it will be visible in your inbox. No messages equals an empty inbox. Changing you privacy settings is limited to enabling or disabling email notifications at the moment, but should expand further soon enough.

Viewing your friends list is also quite simple. Just click the link and you will see a thumbnail of each of the friends you have added. Clicking on the thumbnails will take you to their compete profile. The layout of the thumbnails could be implemented better, say a 5 across layout rather than the long scrolling one per line that it displays at now. Other than that it is easy to see all of your new friends.

My opinion

I think BBMNATION is a growing site built around a growing community. It seems as though the community itself though is growing much faster than the site itself. While this is always a good problem to have from the perspective of the designer, the opposite perspective is cause for concern.

I hope that the guys who run this site make a real push to step up the graphical element of the site and get to adding the long list of features that have been recognized as essential to a functional social networking site.

That being said, they are doing a great job of growing the community, and I look forward to being a part of it well into the future.

Share on Facebook | Add to De.licio.us | Digg This! | Technorati