Even though BlackBerry 10 has launched, there are a lot of you out there looking for BlackBerry 7 OS tips. Today we’ve got tips for the Social Feeds app. How do you get your news? We’ve looked at people who get their news via their BlackBerry devices, but what about social networks? What’s the first thing you do when a huge news story breaks? For me, I check the RSS Feeds tab on my Social Feeds app and then tab over to see what the reaction is on Twitter and Facebook.

The Social Feeds App is like a Puppy

Available on BlackBerry 6 OS devices and later, the Social Feeds app does a great job of giving you a view of what’s happening in the world via RSS, social networks, and podcasts. Over on the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog, Ty has a solid blog post on how to set up Social Feeds, but I want to focus on how you can train it for maximum awesomeness — just like a puppy.

• Stay: The Flagged Items feature lets you save an update or feed for viewing later. Facebook feed tells you it’s your anniversary? Flag it so you can remember to pick up a gift, or else prepare to download the “I’m sorry” app.
• Fetch: Filter results based on very specific keywords (“Walnut double-chocolate brownies” instead of “brownies”) for smarter results. Since you can search across all feeds, it saves a ton of time over searching Facebook or Twitter individually.
• Roll Over: Social Feeds also allows you to login to bit.ly to shorten links on the fly. Business users that rely on bit.ly for analytics will find this feature especially helpful.
• Lay Down: Click the “Do not show here” button on any feed you’re not using to make it faster to swipe across the social landscape. This is your Social Feeds puppy; take out the stuff you’re not using.

I’m hoping that these quick training tips will help speed up your use of Social Feeds, or at least provide you with the inspiration to share your Social Feeds power tips in the comments below. Mmm, walnut double-chocolate brownies.

Happy Friday #TeamBlackBerry! It’s Five Tip Friday, and today I’d like to share five reasons why you should consider using Social Feeds – a great app built right in to BlackBerry® 6 OS and BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphones. Using the Social Feeds app, you can stay up to date with your social networks and receive the latest RSS news and information from your favorite blogs and websites – all in one location.

Before we begin, if you aren’t familiar with Social Feeds, check out my post on How to use Social Feeds 2.0 to learn more.

1. Add your own Bit.ly® account

The next time you want to share a link with friends, you can send them a short link that will be created using your Bit.ly account. This will allow you to measure things such as how many clicks your link got and from which countries your link was viewed (one of my favorite stats!). To add your Bit.ly account details to Social Feeds, complete the following steps:

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

Last week Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones v2.1 was released, which includes a feature I am using all the time now — multi-account support. This feature allows you to switch back and forth between up to five Twitter accounts without having to sign out each time. All of my Twitter accounts are now integrated with Social Feeds, and the enhanced BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) sharing capabilities make chatting about relevant news and information quick and easy.

Here’s a brief overview on how to use the multi-account support feature in Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 as well some other things you should know about this new version.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog »

The new BlackBerry® 7 OS comes with a bunch of new and updated BlackBerry apps that are designed to make it easier to connect and keep tabs on friends, family and your professional life. One such app is the updated Social Feeds 2.0. With the Social Feeds 2.0 app for BlackBerry 7 OS-enabled smartphones, you can consolidate updates from your social networks and the latest news from your favorite websites into one convenient location with greater control and customization. Let’s take a look at the new features in more detail.

Custom Views

The new “Favorites” feature allows you to create custom views of your updates with filtering options to add or remove specific people, channels, and topics you follow. For example, you can create a view called “Co-Workers” with contacts from Facebook®, Twitter® and BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) all in one view. You can also add RSS feeds or add feeds based on a keyword like “BlackBerry” to a custom view, so any feeds related to BlackBerry, regardless of the content source, appear in that view.

Keyword Search/Universal Search Integration

Social Feeds 2.0 has been enhanced to include deeper integration with the BlackBerry 7 OS. For example, the new Universal Search integration allows you to search your BlackBerry smartphone and pull information from your contacts and content in Social Feeds 2.0. You can also use the new keyword search feature to quickly locate specific topics of interest, or specific content. You can perform a keyword search in a specific view or across all feeds.

Enhanced Feed Interactions

From the Social Feeds 2.0 timeline, you can now perform Facebook and Twitter actions on feed items. For example, you can comment and ‘Like’ Facebook feeds, or reply to and retweet Twitter messages right from the Social Feeds timeline.

Flagged Items

Advanced Social Feeds users with a lot of information in their feeds will appreciate the new Flagged Items feature. This handy feature lets you mark feeds for viewing at a later date. This is a great feature for getting back to longer news feeds, or as a reminder to follow-up on a friend’s Facebook post.

Read/Unread Indicator

The read/unread indicator is another great feature if you get interrupted while checking your updates. The new read/unread status indicator bolds what you haven’t yet read, so you’ll never have to question where you left off last. To mark a feed as read (i.e. to unbold it), either click on the feed item or select Mark Read from the menu.

For help with getting started with Social Feeds 2.0, be sure to check out Ty’s super helpful post on the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog.

Have a question or comment about Social Feeds 2.0? Let us know in the comments section below.

I’m happy to announce three new members to the BlackBerry® 7 OS smartphone family today, the BlackBerry® Curve™ 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones will be available in Canada this month and via carriers in selected countries around the world beginning in September. For more details on pricing and international availability, make sure to check out our BlackBerry Curve product page or contact your local carrier.

As someone who used the first BlackBerry Curve (the BlackBerry® Curve™ 8300 smartphone), I’m pretty excited to see this popular smartphone family get the powerful BlackBerry 7 infused update. I tapped Product Managers Soniya and Pankaj to tell you the three things you need to know about the new BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones. Let’s get started!

1. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones are sleek

People familiar with the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 and 9930 smartphones and the all-touch BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 and 9860 smartphones we introduced earlier this month have heard us talk about the sleek and trim design of the new BlackBerry 7 smartphones, and the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are no exception. Our intention was to craft the most stylish BlackBerry Curve smartphones yet, while still maintaining that classic ‘just right’ Curve feel.

We wanted to provide you a balance of ergonomics and style through a combination of key design decisions. For example, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones feature a “Waterfall” design similar to that of the new all-touch BlackBerry Torch, curving both front and back surfaces together for a smooth fit in your hand. We paired this design with a flowing soft-touch band around the circumference of the device, which is both durable and makes the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones comfortable to hold. The soft-touch band also seamlessly integrates functional features like the volume, mute and convenience keys. And we think you’ll love knowing that the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are also some of the lightest BlackBerry smartphones ever, weighing in at only 99 grams –including battery – making portability one less thing you need to worry about.

2. The BlackBerry 7 OS powers the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones

The slim and sleek BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones have been paired with the fast and powerful new BlackBerry 7 OS. We know that BlackBerry Curve smartphone users love to browse the web, and the next-generation BlackBerry Browser is a perfect example of the performance improvements offered by BlackBerry 7. The BlackBerry 7 Browser features a significantly faster web experience, as well as optimized HTML 5 support for things like web-based games and videos. BlackBerry 7 ensures that BlackBerry smartphone users will receive a fast and fluid experience on the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones, with crisp graphics that take advantage of the new devices’ HVGA+ (480×360) display.

BlackBerry 7 also features another improvement upon the BlackBerry 6 OS: voice-activated Universal Search. Voice-activated Universal Search makes it even easier to find the files, messages and contacts stored on your BlackBerry Curve smartphone. You can also use Universal Search to scour the mobile web and supported 3rd party applications to find the information you need – hands free!

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

The BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones are also the second series of BlackBerry smartphones to feature Near Field Communications (NFC), after the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 smartphones. NFC is a technology that allows BlackBerry smartphone users to just tap to connect, get information, and link up with other NFC-enabled devices or authentic BlackBerry accessories. For more information about what NFC means for BlackBerry smartphone users, please watch this interview with Andrew Bocking, VP of Handheld Software Product Management.

3. The new BlackBerry Curve smartphones deeply integrate social

On top of the new functionality provided by the BlackBerry 7 OS, the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones feature a variety of applications that make them some of the most social BlackBerry smartphones ever. In addition to the latest versions of Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones and Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones, the new BlackBerry Curve smartphones feature a brand new version of the popular Social Feeds application, which integrates your Facebook®, Twitter® and BBM feeds into one convenient location. Social Feeds 2.0 contains new features such as Universal Search integration, and the ability to create custom views for your social feeds. My favorite new Social Feeds 2.0 feature may just be the ability to flag items for viewing at a later date, which ensures I don’t have to miss out on any important updates or news items when I’m on the go. Social Feeds is a great application for any BlackBerry smartphone user who can’t choose just one social network, or is looking for an easy way to stay connect to everyone and everything that matters to them (stay tuned for a future post covering Social Feeds 2.0 in more depth – Ed.).

(YouTube link for easy mobile viewing)

Of course, our product team’s favorite social application on the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones has to be the new BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) 6. BBM 6 allows for 3rd party applications (or “BBM-connected” apps) to incorporate your favorite aspects of BBM into their apps, from status updates and sharing to BBM chats. While there are many BBM-connected apps available, my personal favorite has to be foursquare, because I love sharing (and bragging about) new badges I’ve unlocked with friends. Make sure to read the Inside BlackBerry BBM 6: Apps Made Social post to find the BBM connected app that’s the perfect fit for your new BlackBerry Curve smartphone.

The BlackBerry Curve product team is very excited to bring these two new additions to the BlackBerry Curve smartphone family. Please post a comment and tell us what you think of the BlackBerry Curve 9350, 9360 and 9370 smartphones.

We’ve seen a lot of excitement from the community about BlackBerry® 6, and one of the new features I’ve noticed a lot of people talking about is Social Feeds. Since I worked on the Social Feeds app, I thought it would be great to talk about it in more detail with you. Social Feeds is designed to access and interact with your social networks including BlackBerry® Messenger® (BBM™), Facebook®, MySpace® and Twitter®.

When creating the Social Feeds application, we received inspiration from the part of BlackBerry smartphones that every user is likely familiar with – the Messages inbox. The Messages inbox provides a single point of access for all communications – email, texts, BBM, phone, and so on. One of the goals of the Social Feeds application was to create that same ‘BlackBerry inbox’ experience, but with a focus on social communications. As a result, Social Feeds is one single access point to stay on top of – and in touch with – all of your online social networks. Within the app you’ll see all of your friends’ latest Facebook status updates, tweets, BBMs and more (like your favorite RSS feeds).

Once you are in the Social Feeds application, your first choice is to decide what you want to view. Using the top navigation bar, you can toggle between the Social and RSS views, or filter down within the Social or RSS view for specific sources (for example, filter by Facebook or Twitter or MySpace items for the Social view, or different RSS feeds in the RSS view). Clicking on a specific social status update will take you directly into that social network’s application on your BlackBerry smartphone, and clicking on a specific RSS post will take you directly to that content via the BlackBerry® Browser.

One of my favorite features in Social Feeds is the ability to quickly and easily update all your social statuses at once. I’ve found it really simplifies managing my overall social presence. With this feature, I can write one update and then post it to as many different networks as I’d like, simply by selecting “New Post” from the Social Feeds menu and choosing which social networks I want to send my update to.

We’ve also worked hard to deeply integrate the communications and information from the Social Feeds app into your BlackBerry Contacts list. Simply by clicking on a contact’s name, you can see all the latest notifications and communications you’ve had with them (note: this feature requires users to allow automatic contact syncing in Facebook, and manual contact syncing for Twitter, MySpace and BlackBerry Messenger).

It’s been really exciting to work on the team creating a new ‘core’ social application for BlackBerry smartphones. One of my favorite things about the Social Feeds project (aside from creating the app!) was that I got to work with a number of different teams across Research In Motion® (RIM) and meet a number of new people – more new friends to check up on using Social Feeds!

Please post a comment and let us know what you think about Social Feeds, and which social networks you use daily. We hope you feel that Social Feeds is as useful for integrating your social networking as the Messages inbox is for integrating your daily communications.