With BBM Channels now available for all BBM users on BlackBerry, iOS and Android, it would be nice to take a look at the best ways to managed your BBM Channels experience. I’m a big BBM Channels user and with an increase in channels, as well as subscribers since going multi-platform,
I would like to share some tips and
tricks with you to get more from your experience. Here are five tips for you.
Make use of the Favorites feature
The ability to favorite BBM Channels as been there for a while. It meant that you could be notified (in the activity section) of when your favorite BBM Channel made an update. In the latest version of BBM it brought BBM Channel notifications to the Hub. You can be notified in the Hub when someone comments on your own posts or when someone replies to a comment
you have made. Notifications will also arrive in the Hub for any BBM Channel you have marked as favorite. So, if there are any BBM Channels you want to be able to see an update on straight away, mark it as favorite and you’ll be notified as soon as they add a new post.
For Android and iOS users, when a
favorite channel posts an updated, you will see the notification in the Latest Activity tab within BBM Channels.
To mark channel as favorite go to your Subscribed Channels list, tap and hold the channel and then tap the Star icon.
Make use of URL shorteners
If you’re a channel owner, make use of URL shorteners to make more space for you to write things. While 400 characters may be enough some of the time, there may be times you want to write that bit more and if you’re also going to include a link, using a URL shortener will save you some space.
There are many free services available like Bitly, TinyURL, even Google has URL shortening service.
Use the reply feature
It’s not always apparent to people,
especially new users but you can reply directly to a comment. While it isn’t a threaded system, i.e. you can’t reply to a reply, you can still reply to the original comment that was replied to and all parties will be notified. So, make use of the reply feature if you want them to see it, otherwise it will go by unnoticed.
To reply to a comment, just tap the
comment and then tap the arrow icon that pops up. Only first thread
comments can be replied to but you
can keep replying to that first thread comment to reply to comments already made and all concerned will be notified of that reply.
Specify Chat Hours
If you’re a BBM Channel owner and
you don’t mind opening up your chat, make use of the business hours feature. Always open chat is nice this means all hours of the chat you can be contacted, it may not be a big deal but I’ve experienced a time when someone has contacted me via chat while I’m asleep and because I didn’t answer straightaway was subject to unpleasantries. Others may
understand that people work in
different time zones but specifying
hours of chat makes things clearer. I especially recommend this for any
businesses.
Engage with other BBM Channelers
A BBM Channel is like a small
community. You’re subscribed to
channels because you like what you see or because it’s a topic, brand or
business you’re interested in. Like
posts if you enjoy them. Comment on them too. If you’re a BBM Channel owner, perhaps pop a question or two in your post to gain feedback.
Don’t spam
I’ve thrown in this one as a bonus. Too often, people just end up posting their BBM or Channel PIN on posts. We have a forum dedicated to sharing PINs with others. Please respect other BBM Channel users by not spamming.
You’ll find that every week, most
Channel owners hold a Channel PIN
share day anyway, so make use of
those times, otherwise, check out forums and share your Channel PINs there.
There is a block/report option available to use for the times there is uncalled for behavior. It’s available for both subscribers and users alike. I’d rather not have to use it but know that the option is there for you to use. You can also block users entirely.
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