How Do You BBM?

Of course every BlackBerry addict knows about RIM’s ongoing ad campaign promoting BlackBerry Messenger, but how exactly are the masses really using it? What I've learned would not make any RIM campaign, I can assure you.

I’ll admit it, I am newer to the BlackBerry world than many of you. I did have a Curve for a little while but moved back to my Palm Treo Pro while I waited (a long time) for the Bold 9650 to be released.

Like many newbies, I created a My Blackberry account and posted my pin without truly understanding what I was doing. Silly me, I thought BBM was a wonderful tool used by professionals around the globe. I thought the possibility of networking with a bunch of cool business people would be great. Like most things in life, I should have just Googled BBM before ever posting my pin.

I kid you not, within thirty seconds of posting my pin, I had several requests from users, asking to be added as a contact. Within a mere ninety seconds, I had lots of requests. And what do you know, they were all guys. Not that I have anything against guys. In actuality, all my BBM contacts are guys with the exception of one lady from MMA class. I’d much rather talk football, geeky stuff and taxes than knitting and shopping (yeah, so I’m a little odd). Well, many of these guys loved talking football and geeky stuff... taxes - not so much. They quickly named their favorite teams, etc., etc. This lasted for all of maybe ten minutes. Then of course, the real BBM conversation kicked in.

Seriously, do 98% of BlackBerry users really need to know what I'm wearing day in, day out? I think not. I really don't think you need photos of all your BBM contacts in various state of dress or undress either. Is it too much to ask to have a normal conversation? Talk about sports or life in your part of the globe, talk about geeky things. Don't ask to me to add you just so you can have another chick in your contact list. I prefer to add geeky dudes anyway.

Now I will say I have “met” a few wonderful, professional BBM friends that I gladly keep in my contact list. However, all the people who want to know what I'm wearing throughout the day or do nothing but send shirtless pictures of yourself along with dirty jokes and spam will be deleted… quickly, I might add.

I deleted my pin posting soon after releasing it on My BlackBerry. I still get direct messages in my inbox at that site saying “I think we’d make great friends.” or “You’re so pretty, please add me.”. Eh, no. I won’t add you based of your request. You’re the very type of of BBM contact I’m trying to avoid, so stop sending me direct messages.

I am at a point that I actually Google all pin numbers when I get a request now. I think BlackBerry should add this in fine print to their BBM ad campaign videos from now on. Surprisingly, you can learn a lot about a person if you Google their pin. You get to see all the fun sites they’ve already posted their pin info to (if they’ve ever posted it) and often get a general overview of what kind of person they are. Only then will I decide if I want to accept, ignore or decline their request (sometimes forever).

So unless you like “chatting” with anybody and everybody, I suggest you start Googling those pins from now on.

Originally published 11/28/2010 at www.BlackBerryOS.com. Re-published 02/21/2011 at www.Driphter.com and 02/23/2011 on other sites by request.