by Carlee Tibbs

Created on: October 10, 2010

BlackBerry Messenger is an application created by Research In Motion (RIM), which is also the company that designed and developed the BlackBerry series of smartphones. This application is used like many of the Instant Messaging software you can find for your computer, such as Yahoo! Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger.
BlackBerry Messenger is intended to be used on BlackBerry devices only.

BlackBerrys do not come with BlackBerry Messenger already installed. To install it, you will need to point the browser on your BlackBerry to blackberry.com/blackberrymessenger and download it from the BlackBerry website.

To add friends to your BlackBerry Messenger, you will need their BlackBerry PIN or their BlackBerry PIN Barcode.
BlackBerry PIN and BlackBerry PIN Barcode can be found by going into BlackBerry Messenger and pressing the BlackBerry menu button and going to "View My Profile". The PIN and PIN Barcode are both unique to each BlackBerry device and can only be changed server-side by RIM.

You can add a friend to your BlackBerry Messenger by entering the application and pressing the BlackBerry menu button and going to "Invite Contact". From there, you will have the option to invite someone by sending your PIN code to them or by scanning their PIN Barcode.

Just like with other Instant Messengers, BlackBerry Messenger allows people to exchange files, such as images, and website links and not just text-only messages.

It also has a fully functioning profile area, where you can write a personal message, customise your status ("Available" and "Busy" are the two defaults but you can have anything you want by selecting "Personalize Status...") and, just like Yahoo! Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger, you can show your contacts what music you are listening to on your BlackBerry device.
You can also customise your profile further by changing your display name and display picture.

You can hold multiple conversations with multiple contacts or just one conversation with multiple contacts. If you keep each conversation open, BlackBerry Messenger will save all messages within that conversation, even if you turn your phone off.

You can set up your BlackBerry to alert you whenever you receive a new message from a contact, much like you would have if you received a new SMS or email.

Just like with Yahoo! Instant Messenger and Windows Live Messenger, you can organise your contacts into "Groups" and you can have as many of these groups as you require. Each group can be assigned a name, a description and can even have their own icon.

When upgrades are available, you will be given notification and the option to download and upgrade to the newest version.

BlackBerry Messenger can also be installed on iPhones but they need to have been jailbroken first.

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