BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) Best Practices: Six Tips [Article]

By Mauricio

Al Sacco (@asacco) over at CIO has a great article that everyone who uses BlackBerry Messenger should read. BlackBerry Messenger has gone from a “business messenger” to a casual messenger like AIM, which wasn’t really  its original purpose. Of course it’s up to the user what they do with their BlackBerry Messenger but it’s always good to consider tips provided by BlackBerry pros like Al.

BlackBerry Messenger, Research In Motion’s (RIM) mobile IM application that uses unique “PIN” codes associated with every BlackBerry to connect RIM smartphone users, isn’t new. But due to the BlackBerry platform’s rising popularity, BBM–which you can think of as a mobile version of AIM or Google Talk that only works with BlackBerrys — is suddenly getting a lot of attention. And not all of it is positive. In fact, Web-security-software-maker McAfee recently posted a warning about BBM spam and hoaxes on its TrustedSource blog.

To me, BBM is a valuable tool that I use every day for immediate contact with important colleagues, associates and family members. But the app can subject BlackBerry users to unnecessary risk if used improperly or without a certain degree of caution.

Here are half a dozen BBM best practices to help ensure that you get the most of your BBM experience while avoiding any potential trouble.

Here’s a summary of the tips:

1. Add New Contacts Sparingly
2. Backup BBM Contacts Regularly
3. Be Wary of BBM Groups… *
4. Accept File Transfers from Only Trusted Contacts *
5. Additional Privacy and Security Safeguards
6. Avoid Using BBM Broadcast Messages…Please *

* = High priority tips for me.

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