From all of our conversations on our LinkedIn® Group and Company Page, Twitter®, and here on the blogs, we know that you’ve been patiently waiting for a LinkedIn app for your BlackBerry® smartphone. Today we’re excited to announce that the day has come! A free LinkedIn app for smartphones running BlackBerry OS 6 and 7 is now available for download; get it here.

With LinkedIn, you can put your professional network at your fingertips. The new LinkedIn app for BlackBerry smartphones lets you access many of the LinkedIn features that you love from the desktop experience and stay connected while on the go. Read on for an overview of the features that are included in the app.

Note: Thanks for your excitement in LinkedIn 2.0! Please be aware that it may take up to 24 hours for the app to be available in BlackBerry® App World™. The LinkedIn app for BlackBerry smartphones supports all devices that are BlackBerry OS 6 or higher, and requires a Wi-Fi connection or data plan in order to function properly. Learn more about regional availability and language preferences on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

Guest post today from Dan – Ed.

Hi, I’m Dan Sloshberg, Regional Manager for Small Medium Business Marketing in Europe, Middle East and Africa. I work on helping to promote our BlackBerry® solutions for those who are looking to start or grow their business.

Following on from our last post on mobile social networking for SMBs, we’ve put together this great new video, showcasing some examples of how smart small business can use mobile social networking to connect and engage with their customers and find and attract new customers.

Starting or growing a business can be tough and a lot of hard work. Engaging on social networks from your smartphone or tablet is a powerful and efficient form of communicating and connecting with customers and prospects. If done right, not only can it be highly effective but is also a very low cost marketing strategy. See how you can use some simple social tactics to attract and keep more customers wherever your day takes you – and all from your BlackBerry smartphone.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

Does your business use social networking to engage with customers? Share your tips and advice for using social networking on a smartphone or tablet in the comments below.

Let’s take a look:

First, we’ve added “Facebook Groups” to the app. Facebook Groups keeps you connected to the different groups and organizations that you belong to. You can keep tabs on the Groups you’re already a member of, right from your BlackBerry smartphone. You’ll be able to post your updates, comments and media. You can even check out the profile info of fellow group members and get notifications when other members make updates.

Sharing comments and discussing others’ posts is at the core of what makes Facebook fun. With this software update, you can now “Like” individual comments from within the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones app. I’m personally looking forward to the simple satisfaction of giving a much-deserved thumbs up to the wittiest comments posted by friends and family. Of course, it’s always good to be on the receiving end of some kudos, too.

There you have it — two awesome new features have been added to Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones. Like what you see? Be sure to swing by the BlackBerry App World™ storefront for a free download of the Facebook for BlackBerry® smartphones app, and tell us what you think in the comments.

*App may take up to 24 hours to appear in BlackBerry App World

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 »

The latest update to Facebook® for BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet – version 2.1 – launched today in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, and I’m excited to share that it includes a much-requested feature from #TeamBlackBerry – Facebook Groups. That’s right, listening to and incorporating your feedback on the application is very important to the Facebook app team here at Research In Motion. It helps us to deliver the features and functionality that users like you want and expect. So keep those suggestions* coming, #TeamBlackBerry!

If you haven’t already downloaded Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook tablet v2.1, you can do so by going to BlackBerry App World (keep in mind it may take up to 24 hours for the new version to appear for some users). Let’s take a look at what’s new in this release, shall we?

Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups is designed to let you share and interact with the groups that you are interested in the most. With Facebook Groups on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you can view groups that you’re a member of, post updates, photos and videos, view profiles of group members and send messages, and get notified of new group posts and interactions so you never miss an update.

Improved Media Access

You let us know in your comments and feedback that media viewing and uploading wasn’t intuitive in the application. We heard you loud and clear, and the Facebook app team has made some improvements by adding new photo and video buttons on the Photos tab to make it even easier to view friends’ photos and videos from their Profiles. The photo and video uploading capabilities are also now more apparent on the Photo tab, and are accessible from your Profile or through the Photos feature on the navigation grid. Simply click the Photos or Videos button to upload the corresponding media type.

Remember to post a comment below to let us know what you think of this latest version or even what you’d like to see in future versions – we love hearing your feedback.

* By posting a comment below you acknowledge that you have read and accept these terms and conditions and that any ideas you post will be the property of RIM in accordance with the terms and conditions.

Great news, #TeamBlackBerry: Twitter® for BlackBerry® smartphones v2.1 now has multi-account support—the top user requested feature. As of today, the app is leaving beta and will be made available for download in the BlackBerry App World™ storefront (please note it may take up to 24 hours for the app to appear in BlackBerry App World for some users).

In case you missed it, you can check out the highlights of the new multi-account support feature in the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 (Beta) blog post. I’d like to give a huge shout-out to our BlackBerry® Beta Zone users for their helpful feedback. The Twitter app development team here at Research In Motion® (RIM®) has since implemented a keyboard shortcut (Alt+Space) to make switching accounts a cinch. (Note: the shortcut key does not work on devices with SureType® keyboards.)

There are also a couple of cool multi-account support features available for BlackBerry® 6 and BlackBerry® 7 OS users in Social Feeds for effectively managing multiple Twitter accounts. Let’s take a closer look at Share with BBM and multi-account support in this updated version.

Share with BBM

While you could always share Tweets with your BBM contacts (as well as through email, text message, PIN, and Facebook®!), the Share with BBM feature has been added as a top-level menu item to make it easier to share Tweets with your BBM contacts. Having conversations about relevant Tweets through BBM has never been so easy.

Share Tweets with BBM Contacts and Groups

View multiple Twitter accounts in a single timeline

Using Social Feeds, you can view a stream of Tweets from up to five Twitter accounts in a single Social Feeds timeline, or you can opt to filter individual Twitter accounts.

View a stream of Tweets from all Twitter accounts in Social Feeds

Option to filter individual Twitter accounts

Post a Tweet to multiple Twitter accounts

Do you have one Tweet that begs to be published from multiple accounts – all at the same time? Now it’s possible to publish a Tweet to one or more Twitter accounts simultaneously. Just click New Post from the menu and select all of the Twitter accounts you wish to post a Tweet from and you’re good to roll. It’s that simple.

Post a tweet to multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously

As mentioned, Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 with multi-account support and enhanced Share with BBM functionality will become available in BlackBerry App World over the next 24 hours. (Please note: The Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.1 app is available for users running BlackBerry® Device Software v5.0 and up. To check your device’s version of software and update it if applicable, see this Inside BlackBerry Help Blog post: How to identify BlackBerry Device Software versions.)

I look forward to reading your feedback on everything we do, but especially on Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones! Please log in and leave a comment below if you want to share.

Research In Motion® (RIM®) is a company where thousands of people work every day to build the best mobile communication experience. One of those people is Andy Toy. If you’re wandering around Kitchener-Waterloo, you’re sure to run into Andy at a restaurant, farmer’s market or local pub. I first came to know the man (the legend!) via foursquare when I noticed he was the mayor of almost every place I frequented. One day I realized Andy worked at RIM too, so I looked him up in our address book and strolled over to introduce myself. That’s the beauty of social networking – and especially being social through BlackBerry® smartphones.

A few weeks later, I was bouncing around blog post ideas and I said “Hey, I should interview Andy Toy.” I managed to meet up with Andy for a chat about foursquare, social networking and how the BlackBerry platform fits in to the mix.

So you’re presently at 66 mayorships on Foursquare, which is the most in Waterloo of any individual that I’ve ever seen. You’re kind of the virtual mayor of Waterloo. Are you the mayor of any RIM buildings?
Yeah, I’m the mayor of some other RIM buildings, but which ones often vary, because I just really check in when I can.

To make sure no one takes over.
I do my best, but the competition for mayorship of RIM buildings is pretty intense. I might have gotten mayorship of a building for a short period of time, but I might not go there that often necessarily, so other people get it back.

Is there any mayorship that you pride yourself on having? For me, it’s the RIM 20 building. I need to have that one. When I lost that one, I was heartbroken.
I like being mayor of various restaurants around Kitchener-Waterloo.

So you’re a foodie?
(laughs) That’s right.

You mentioned earlier about meeting the two guys from Motek Americas (the developers of Screen Muncher and Color ID).
I met the guys from Motek at one of the restaurants I go to. I checked in there, and within a few seconds, somebody at another table said, “Hey, are you Andy Toy?” I said, “Uh, yes I am. Did you notice my foursquare check-in?” And they said, “Yeah, you’re famous. You’re like the mayor of K-W!” (laughs) And so they wanted to get their picture taken with me.

What do you do at RIM?
I work in the Software R&D department, in the BlackBerry Infrastructure Engineering Group.

So if you were a consumer, an average Joe using a BlackBerry smartphone, what part of their BlackBerry smartphone experience are you responsible for?
Basically, our BlackBerry software group looks after all of the software that’s used in RIM data centers to run BlackBerry smartphones.

So you deal with the software that runs a BlackBerry smartphone user’s emails and BBM™ messages through RIM’s network data centers then, right?
That’s right. Basically, we have pieces of software that handle BlackBerry smartphone activations, all the email traffic and all the web traffic – any BlackBerry smartphone traffic goes through the relay system in RIM BlackBerry data centers.

Do you have a special key to get in there?
(laughs) Generally not, because once we finish all the software development and engineering, it’s handed over to BlackBerry operations.

I see you’re on a BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700 or 9780 smartphone.
Yeah, this is a BlackBerry Bold 9700 smartphone. It’s my favorite BlackBerry smartphone at the moment. It’s nice and compact, and it’s got a good weight to it.

How long have you been at RIM?
I’ve been at RIM for 12 years.

So, a long time.
The beginning, relatively. Early on, anyway.

What building were you originally in? RIM 1?
When I started, I was in RIM 2. I believe when I started, everybody was in RIM 2, because it wasn’t RIM 2 yet.

It was just RIM?
Yeah.

And now we’re at, like, 30-something buildings, with A, B, C and D…
Yeah, we’re up to RIM high-20s, I guess, and then we have all the letter buildings.

So you’ve been here for 12 years. What’s been the biggest change for you?
Oh, just continued growth in all the processes and business buildup. Everything is done totally differently from when I first started because of the size of the company now. There’s hardly anything I can think of that’s still the same. The thing I miss the most, really, is just knowing everyone in the company! (laughs) Now that it’s so big, you can’t really do that anymore.

Has social media changed that for you at all, by using foursquare or Twitter®, for example?
Yeah, so that’s an interesting thing. Basically, I try to sign up for everything as I find out about it. I have accounts on Facebook®, Twitter, Pownce – well, that’s gone now – MySpace®, VEVO… whatever came up, I’d give it a try to see if it was interesting.

Would you say you’re addicted to any of them?
I have to say I was using Facebook a lot, which I only got into because somebody wanted me to comment on what he was putting on his Wall. So I started there, and then I got on it and I started doing more stuff on Facebook — sharing photos, linking in various interesting articles from websites, playing some of those games. (laughs) Lately, my focus has been more on foursquare and Twitter.

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), which is basically a social network all on its own. What do you use BBM for?
I use BBM for its groups. Most of them are food-related. (laughs) I am in several groups for arranging daily lunch meet ups with colleagues, dinner trips to Toronto, wine & cheese nights, home theatre nights, Thirsty Thursday weekly beer night, friends’ kids’ dance events. It’s a great way to co-ordinate with many people for an outing and for sharing photos from it.

If you’re in Waterloo and feel like challenging Andy’s mayoral claim – or if you’re not in Waterloo but want to beat his record of 66 mayorships – be sure to download the foursquare app for BlackBerry smartphones or fourplay for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and give it a shot!

Have you met a co-worker you didn’t know or made a friend when challenging each other for a mayorship on foursquare? Let us know in the comments.

Let’s take a closer look at what’s new in this release.

Additional Profile Functions

You’ll notice that just to the right of My Profile photo and name, there are two new icons: Edit Profile and Switch Accounts. While you could always edit your profile via the Menu, now you can use the Edit Profile icon right from the Profile screen to change your picture or update your personal information. The Edit Profile screen has also received a new facelift.

New Edit Profile and Switch Account icons

Multi-Account Support

The new Multi-Account Support feature is designed to let you use up to five accounts on Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones. When logged into multiple accounts, the current user name will appear in the upper-left corner of the header bar and the user picture will appear in the My Profile icon. You can quickly switch between accounts by using the Switch Account function, accessible from My Profile or via the Menu. Have an interesting Tweet in one account that you’d like to share from another account? No problem, you can cross-post Tweets and Retweets from one account to another without switching the current account view. You can also stay notified of Mentions and Messages with near real-time notifications for each of your Twitter accounts.

Account Switch via My Profile

Account Switch on Retweet

This update is currently available in BlackBerry Beta Zone. To download the latest beta version, you need to register to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone member. Not sure how to get started? Check out Ty’s blog post on how to join a BlackBerry Beta Zone program. Please note that you must reside in one of the BlackBerry Beta Zone supported countries in order to participate in the latest beta release.

Download it today and be sure to leave a comment to tell us what you think.

Today marks the fourth beta release of Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones v2.0. Over the course of the last several months, we’ve introduced a slew of new features and functionality. Starting with the initial Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 beta release, we introduced Facebook Chat and a brand-new interface. In the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 beta refresh, we added support for BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0 in addition to some new features and performance enhancements. And the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 beta 3 release included some of the top requested features, like Wi-Fi® support, the ability to delete comments and posts, and a new prompt that appears before you delete a Facebook message.

To add to the lineup of features in Facebook v2.0, this beta release includes some highly anticipated additions.

Enhanced Notifications – Get Notified of ‘Likes’

We’ve made several improvements to notifications; the first is that you’ll be now be notified of polled items (that is, notifications that aren’t delivered through BlackBerry® push technology), such as ‘Likes’ and Event Wall posts. The notification will even tell you who and what was ‘Liked’, so you’ll never miss a beat in your social life. By default, polled notifications will be set to a one-hour frequency but you can check as often as you like by selecting Refresh from the Menu.

And not to worry, polled notifications won’t drain your battery or consume unnecessary network usage since polling activity will automatically adjust according to your usage. For example, polling activity will be reduced during the night when the device is inactive.

After upgrading to the latest beta release, you’ll also notice upon initial sign-in that any notifications received over the last seven days will be populated in the notifications bar.

Cross-Channel Messaging – Share Facebook Content across BlackBerry Messaging Applications

Want to share something on Facebook with a contact from your BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) application? No problem! Deep integration of Facebook with core BlackBerry applications means you can efficiently send News Feed items to other messaging applications, like email, SMS, BBM, Twitter® and more. (Did you know you can also share content from Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones and Social Feeds with the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones app? Try it out!)

Enhanced Integration with BlackBerry Native Apps

Building on enhanced integration with native BlackBerry smartphone apps, which was introduced with the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 beta refresh, Facebook v2.0 now includes additional messaging options from the ‘More’ button within a Profile and from the Friends list.

In-App Error Reporting

If you haven’t already downloaded the BlackBerry Feedback Tool from BlackBerry App World, you can install it through the Menu in the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones app. The BlackBerry Feedback Tool can be used to send feedback on BlackBerry smartphone features, functions and applications at any time and is currently available in English only.

Touch Toolbar

BlackBerry smartphone users with a touch screen device will now have Compose, Reply and Delete icons located along the bottom of the device screen in the Facebook Inbox for quick and easy access to these popular features. (UPDATE June 30/2011: Touch Toolbar is only available for BlackBerry 6 users.)

To download the latest beta version, you need to register to become a BlackBerry® Beta Zone member. Please note that you must reside in one of the BlackBerry Beta Zone supported countries in order to participate in the latest beta release.

As we near the end of the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 beta program, I invite you to please post a comment below to share your feedback and tell us what you think about this latest release.

UPDATE 07/07/2011: Quick update, friends! Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 is now live in BlackBerry App World. Click the link and check it out! (Note: It may take up to 24 hours for the new version of Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones to appear in BlackBerry App World for some users).

The Twitter® app team here at Research In Motion® (RIM®) always strives to deliver a great user experience that meets the diverse needs of our customers. The updates included in this latest version were primarily driven by customer feedback we received on v2.0. We hope that you will be happy with the changes we’ve made to continue to improve the experience of Twitter for BlackBerry® smartphones.

The Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 Beta update is available today within BlackBerry® Beta Zone. Let’s take a look at the latest changes we’ve made:

Color Refresh

This update features a lighter color scheme consisting of light blue with a shade of white. This new, smooth color scheme makes it easy to follow where you are in the timeline and has been incorporated throughout the app.

Compose a Tweet

It’s all about options! By default, the Tweet composer is “hidden” from the Home timeline but accessible from the new “Compose Tweet” bar located below the nav bar as displayed in Option 1 below. Clicking the “Compose Tweet” bar will bring up the Tweet composer at the bottom of the screen, similar to if you’re composing a Tweet via the Menu or by using the same hotkey that you would use to compose an email message from the BlackBerry message list (for example, in English, the hotkey is ‘c’ if using a QWERTY keyboard). Alternatively, you can choose to display the Tweet composer as a static fixture at the top of the Home timeline (see Option 2).

Option 1

Option 2

Trending Topics now with local trends support

A Trending Topics icon has been added to the nav bar and now includes local trends support. Local trends helps you keep in touch with the trends in your area while on-the-go with the Twitter app.

My Profile

Now you can access your profile quickly and easily from the nav bar (or the Menu). And, you’ll notice that the icon is personalized with your profile picture to better help you identify the account that you’re logged into (teaser: this feature will be especially helpful should we include multi-account support in a future release. #justsayin =D).

Performance Enhancements

Last but certainly not least, we’ve included some performance enhancements to improve the overall usability of the app.

This update is currently available in BlackBerry Beta Zone. To download the latest beta version, you need to register to become a BlackBerry Beta Zone member. Please note that you must reside in one of the BlackBerry Beta Zone supported countries in order to participate in the latest beta release.

Check it out today and post a comment below to let us know what you think of the changes we’ve made.