Those who know me well (or even a little for that matter) know that I’m head over heels in love with BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™). You also know that I’m a pretty big baseball fan. Well, put those things together and you get the inspiration for this week’s Top 3 Tuesday: Top Three Uses for BBM Groups. You might be asking yourself, what does baseball have to do BBM Groups? The answer might surprise you:

1. Coordinating groups of people. BBM Groups is possibly one of the best ways to get a group of people together in one place, without physically meeting. With the ability to chat in real time with your selected group, it’s simple and fun way to connect. You can also share calendars, lists and even photos. For me, the ability to create lists is among the best features because you can assign a task to a group member and track completion. Planning a party? Assign someone to bring the balloons, or the cake. Working on a project? Assign the completion of needed documents and track everything in the group calendar. Getting people together using BBM Groups couldn’t be easier.

2. Sharing the moment. Have something that you want to share with a group of your BBM contacts, but not the whole list? Creating a BBM Group is a great way to do this. One of the best examples I’ve come across is a friend who used a BBM Group to keep us all up to date on their pregnancy. They made the announcement in the chat, then added the due date to the calendar, and finally shared pictures of the baby – all within the group. (It was a girl – congrats!)

3. Clubs and Teams. I’ve been playing recreational baseball this summer, and we use BBM Groups as our main hub for the team. At the beginning of the season, we added all our games to the group calendar so nobody would forget. We share photos and memes for inspiration on game day, and use the chat all week long to coordinate impromptu practices and make carpooling arrangements to the diamond. We even use the list function to keep track of who’s on sunflower seed duty and make changes to the batting order. Now, we can focus on swinging for the fences.

If you haven’t already explored BBM Groups, you might find that it can be used as your personal coordinator. Do you have an interesting way you use a BBM Group in BlackBerry Messenger? Be sure to tell us all about it in the comments.

Well, here we are -– it’s Tuesday, and if you’ve been following along with us here at the Inside BlackBerry® Blog lately, you’ll know that it’s Top 3 Tuesday! This week we’re taking a look at my top three tips for BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™):

1. Communicate: With BBM you can send messages up to 2,000 characters long, and best of all, you can see when users on the other end are interacting with you. There’s a simple yet wonderful thing that happens in BBM. You can see when your message has been delivered (signified by a “D” to the left of the message) and when it’s been read (signified by an “R”). You can also see when the user on the other end is typing, so you’re not left hanging!

2. Share: With BBM, you can quickly and efficiently transfer pictures, files and voice notes from your BlackBerry smartphone to your contacts — it turns your moment into their moment. To send the file, all you have to do is open the file, hit the “menu” button on your BlackBerry smartphone, select “send”, select “BBM Contact”, then choose who you want to send it to. So simple! I use this all the time with my friends and family to share photos, and I also send voice notes when I want to add that personal touch to a conversation. Also, with BBM Connected apps, you can share what you’re doing in the app with your BBM contacts. Want to discuss the score of a sporting event you’re following, or share your app suggestions with someone you know? With BBM Connected, your apps become more social. Check out Alex’s blog post on his top 6 BBM Connected apps!

3. Organize: BBM has a built-in feature below your contacts list called BBM Groups. This is a great way to gather groups of BBM users and organize events, clubs and gatherings. Planning a surprise party for someone? Gather everyone (except that certain individual of course) into a BBM Group and share a central calendar so everyone can see key dates. You can create group lists so people can track who’s in charge of bringing what, and you can also share pictures, files and hold a group chat so that everyone can be on the same page. I’ve used this on a few occasions and the plan has always gone off without a hitch!

There you have it — my top three tips for using BlackBerry Messenger (BBM). Do you use BBM in a unique way? Share it with us in the comments below.

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One of best features available in BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) is Groups, as it’s a great way to stay organized and in touch. Using Groups, you can chat, share pictures and lists, create appointments and much more with family, friends, or co-workers. (Also, to get an idea of how you can use Groups, check out Alex’s post on Starting a BlackBerry Messenger Group to see how he uses it stay on top of everything!)

Let’s take a look at how to set up and manage a BlackBerry Messenger Group. To learn additional important things such as how to administer your group, check out the BlackBerry Messenger 6.0 User Guide.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »