Before we get started, if you haven’t installed Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones, or want to ensure that you are running the latest version of the app, open BlackBerry App World™, press the Menu key and select “Scan a Barcode”.

Receiving Notifications from Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones

1. Once you have logged into Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones, complete the following steps to receive Facebook notifications in the notification view on your Home screen (circled in red above): Open Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones
2. Press the Menu key and select “Options”
3. Select the check box next to “Facebook notifications”
4. Press the Menu key and select “Save”

Receiving Facebook Notifications in the Messages App

You also have the ability to integrate notifications from Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones within the Messages app. If you enable this feature, make sure you review the description beneath the checkbox to understand what occurs in the event you delete Facebook notifications from your smartphone after they have been received.

Complete the following steps to integrate notifications from Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones in your Messages app:

1. Open Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones
2. Press the Menu key and select “Options”
3. Select the check box next to “BlackBerry Messages application”
4. Press the Menu key and select “Save”

Facebook Notifications by Email

To receive Facebook notifications by email on your BlackBerry smartphone you need to do two things.First, ensure that Facebook is configured with an email account that has been integrated with your smartphone:

1. From a web browser, log in to Facebook.com
2. Select “Account Settings” followed by “Notifications”
3. Verify that the desired email address is displayed
4. Specify your notification options and click “Save Changes”

Note: For more information on configuring notifications in Facebook, please refer to the Facebook Help Center.

Next, the email address specified to receive Facebook notifications must also be integrated with your BlackBerry smartphone. For help integrating an email address on your smartphone visit our support site section titled “Setting Up Email Accounts on your BlackBerry Smartphone”.

Disabling Facebook Email Notifications

If you’ve enabled both notification methods, you may notice that you will start receiving duplicate notifications. In the event this occurs, you can turn off Facebook email notifications by accessing the Options menu within Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones:

1. Open Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones
2. Press the Menu key and select “Options”
3. Select “Turn off Email Notifications”

To enable email notifications again should you decide to do so, you must login to your Facebook account using a web browser and follow the steps in the section above titled: Receiving Facebook notifications in the Messages App

Have a tip or question about Facebook notifications on a BlackBerry smartphone? Let us know and leave a comment below!

Happy Friday #TeamBlackBerry! Since BlackBerry® PlayBook™ OS 2.0 is now available for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet – including new apps for Messages, Calendar and Contacts – here are five tips I’ve been taking advantage of to help me stay organized.

1 – Link and Merge Contacts

When adding new accounts to the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you have the option to have contacts from your email account as well as Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter® social networks consolidated within the Contacts app. By default, the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet will link these contacts, so if someone in your address book is on Facebook as well as Twitter, their information is displayed on a single contact card, which makes it easy to see everything you need in one place.

Depending on their information, contacts might not link automatically, so you have the ability to manually link or merge contacts from multiple accounts into a single contact card on your BlackBerry tablet. To unlink a contact, tap on the chain icon to break the link, followed by tapping the save icon that appears in the top right corner.

1. Tap a contact
2. Tap the “Link/Unlink Contact” button
3. Tap “Add Link”
4. Type the contact’s name
5. Tap the “Link Contact” button
6. Tap the “Save” button

2 – Messages Search Filters

Viewing an email from a specific person and need to find out more? Tap on the “Search” button and you’ll be able to quickly search for other messages sent from that person, to a specific person, or other messages with the same subject. You also have the ability to use other search filters such as Unread, Attachments, Flagged, Received, Today, Yesterday and Last Week. When you start typing a search term, you can use these filters to narrow down results as well.

1. Open Messages
2. Tap the “Search” button
3. Tap on a search filter or enter a search term
4. Optionally use multiple filters to narrow search results
5. To exit search, tap on the “Search” icon

3 – Refresh Messages and Folders

Depending on how you have your account set up, you can manually refresh your Messages listing to reconcile changes as well as check for new mail.

1. Open Messages
2. Drag down from the top of the Messages list

(In this example, I placed my finger on the date, “Mon, Feb 27, 2012” followed by dragging down and releasing)

4 – Customize Calendar Views

Very high up on my list of favorite BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 features is the new Calendar app since it offers so many perks that help me manage my day. Use the following tips to view specific calendars as well as pick a different color for your various calendars!

Viewing a specific calendar

1. Open the Calendar app
2. Swipe down from the top bezel
3. Select the desired calendar

Calendar Colors

1. Open the Calendar app
2. Swipe down from the top bezel
3. Tap “Calendar Preferences” followed by tapping on a calendar
4. When prompted, choose the desired color for the calendar

5 – Messages Multitasking

Constantly referencing a previous email while drafting a new message or responding to a lengthy thread? Here’s an example of how I was able to use the multitasking capabilites offered by my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet to switch back and forth between previous emails and the one I was drafting (in addition to using Documents To Go® to reference a spreadsheet I needed).

In case you are curious, you can have up to 10 draft emails on the go at the same time. Something to keep in mind is you should always tap the X in the top left corner while drafting a email to save your progress if you need to close the Messages app and want to continue writing your email later on.

1. Open a message that you need to respond to

• Optionally tap on the “View in Full Screen Mode” icon

2. Swipe down from the top bezel to access the Messages app toolbar and tap the “Compose Email” icon to start drafting your email
3. Swipe down from the top bezel again, tap “Messages”, then select the email you need to reference
4. Swipe down from the top bezel one more time and tap on your draft email
5. Repeat this as necessary to access the same reference email or other previously received messages.

Got a question about BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 or maybe a tip you’d like to share? Leave a comment and let me know!

To help get you prepared for BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0, here’s an overview of how to set up your email, calendar and contacts, as well as steps to set up your favorite social networking accounts.

Adding a new Email, Calendar and Contact account to BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

Setting up a new personal or work email account is quick. BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will automatically populate your account server settings, which means that all you need to do is enter your email address and password to set up a new account. In the event that your email settings cannot be automatically configured, you can manually specify them in the advanced settings.

To add a new email, calendar and contact account, complete the steps below. After setting up a new account, should you need to review or modify the settings, select “Accounts” from the PlayBook Settings menu and tap on the account you’d like to modify.

Automatically discover account settings:

1. Tap “Settings” (Gear icon) > “Accounts” > “Add New Account”
2. Tap “Email, Calendar and Contacts”
3. Enter your account information and tap “Continue”
4. If your server settings are found automatically, add a Description for the account
5. Specify your desired synchronization options
6. Tap “Save”

Manually specify account settings:

1. Tap “Settings” (Gear icon)> “Accounts” > “Add New Account”
2. Tap “Email, Calendar and Contacts”
3. Tap “Advanced Setup”
4. Select which type of account you’d like to add

• Options available include: ActiveSync, Gmail®, Hotmail®, IMAP, POP, CalDAV and CardDAV

5. Enter your account information and tap “Continue”
6. Specify your desired synchronization options
7. Tap “Save”

After successfully setting up your account, return to the home screen and tap on “Messages, Contacts or Calendar” to access your data. An important thing to keep in mind is that you may need to wait briefly for your accounts to synchronize completely.

Adding a social networking account in BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

On top of adding your personal or work email accounts, you can also integrate your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn social networking accounts. What’s really convenient is that the Messages, Contacts and Calendar apps are designed to merge multiple accounts, including your social networking accounts. This means, for example, that whenever you view a contact, you’ll be able to view information from multiple sources, merged into one contact card that allows you to easily grab their contact information and recent status updates as well as other benefits. To add one or all of these accounts, complete the steps below.

Adding a Facebook account

Connect and share with your circle of friends by adding your Facebook account. This will allow you to synchronize your friends, messages, events and your friend’s birthdays from Facebook into your BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet.

1. Tap “Settings” (Gear icon)> “Accounts” > “Add New Account”
2. Tap “Email, Calendar and Contacts”
3. Enter your account information
4. Specify your desired Birthday Reminders setting
5. Tap “Save”

	Explore tablet hardware Using the tablet interface BlackBerry Bridge Personalization Docs To Go Print To Go Calendar Contacts Video Player Messages Video Chat Browsing the web

Adding a Twitter account

Integrate the people you are following on Twitter and you’ll also be able to directly message them in the Messages and Contacts app.

1. Tap “Settings” (Gear icon) > “Accounts” > “Add New Account”
2. Tap “Email, Calendar and Contacts”
3. Enter your account information and tap “Continue”
4. Tap “Save”

Adding a LinkedIn account

By adding a LinkedIn account, you can synchronize connections and messages with the Messages and Contacts app. Adding a LinkedIn account will also allow you view LinkedIn Profiles directly from the Contacts app, which is really handy.

1. Tap “Settings” > “Accounts” > “Add New Account”
2. Tap “Email, Calendar and Contacts”
3. Enter your account information and tap “Continue”

Removing an account from BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

If you need to remove an account you previously set up, complete the steps below:

1. On the BlackBerry tablet home screen, tap “Settings” (Gear Icon)
2. Select “Accounts” then tap the Pencil icon
3. Tap on the Trashcan icon next to the account you’d like to remove.

Okay, so at this point we’ve touched on how to add and remove accounts, as well as some of the benefits of the Messages, Contacts and Calendar apps. Keep an eye out for more BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 blog posts in the near future, and make sure you leave a comment with any questions you might have as well!

More about BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0

1. Help Blog: How to download and update to BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 and manage the new home screen
2. Help Blog: Getting Started with Video Chat in BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0
3. BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 is here!
4. New Video Chat features with BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0
5. BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Reviews from CES
6. CES 2012: BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 Communicates [Video]

A little while back, we gave you posts on Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones 1.9, with a focus on Facebook Places. Now, we’re super excited to let you know that the newest version, Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0, is available for download from the BlackBerry App World™ storefront.

The first few things you’ll notice when you log in on your BlackBerry smartphone are a beautiful new user interface and…wait for it…Facebook Chat! Today I’ll be showing you how to get started with Facebook Chat so you start chatting with Facebook friends right away.

To enable Facebook Chat, follow these easy steps:

1. Log in using your Facebook credentials.

2. From the Facebook homescreen, access the dropdown menu by selecting/tapping on the Facebook logo. (circled in red below)

3. Scroll down to the Chat bubble icon and select/tap it.

4. Click ‘Go Online’.

Now you’re all set. But there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind once you’ve enabled Facebook Chat:

1. You’ll appear online until you select ‘Go Offline’. To do this, select the menu key, then select ‘Go Offline’.

2. After 10 minutes of inactivity in the Facebook application, your status will appear as ‘Sleeping’ to other users. In the previous screenshot, the half-moon icon means that a contact is ‘Sleeping’ and may not be available to respond immediately, whereas the green circle means they are online and active – go ahead and send them a message!

3. If you no longer wish to be left online or receive chat messages, you must select “Go Offline” from the Chat screen menu or completely log out of the application by going to Options> Logout.

If you have any questions about the Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v2.0 app including Facebook Chat, feel free to leave a comment here, check in with @BlackBerryHelp or visit the BlackBerry Support Community for further assistance.

Recently, we asked you to provide us with your feedback regarding Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones 1.9.0.20, as we were investigating reports of missed notifications and difficulty logging into the Facebook application on your BlackBerry® smartphone. Thanks to your valuable feedback, our development team was able to determine the root cause for some of the issues being experienced.

You’ll be pleased to know that we’ve made improvements to the reliability of push notifications. We’ve also addressed some other issues that were raised, such as the photo uploading issue that was causing some devices to freeze, as well as periodic issues with the notifications and background polling settings. Please note that we are continuing to investigate the login issue being experienced by some users with Facebook.

Today, I’d like to go over the issues addressed above, as well as steps on how to upgrade to Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones v1.9.0.28.

Email Notification Improvements
Previously, if you turned on email notifications using the Facebook.com website, then logged out and logged back into Facebook on your BlackBerry smartphone, your email notification settings would be turned off.

Now, with Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones 1.9.0.28, email notifications are left enabled if you change email notification settings using Facebook.com, then log out and log back in to Facebook on your BlackBerry smartphone.

Background Polling
Previously, if you set the background polling option to Never, then logged out and logged back into Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones, the polling setting would be set to 10 minutes instead of Never. This issue has been corrected so the background polling option will remain at the Never setting.

Photo Upload Freeze Fix
In the past, users may have seen their BlackBerry smartphone freeze when sending a photo to Facebook from the Media folder on their BlackBerry smartphone. This issue has been corrected by this maintenance release so no further freezing should occur.

Upgrading to the latest release

To upgrade to the latest release of Facebook on your BlackBerry smartphone, complete the following steps:

1. Open Facebook on your BlackBerry smartphone
2. Press the Menu key and select Options
3. Scroll down and select the option Check for Upgrade Now

If you currently do not have Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones and would like to install it, you can download it through BlackBerry App World on your BlackBerry smartphone.

Update (3/2/2011): It may take a few hours for the updated version of Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones to appear in both BlackBerry App World and when you initiate a ‘Check for Upgrade Now’ within Facebook on your BlackBerry smartphone.  Check again in a few hours if the upgrade isn’t available to you right now.

We have seen some reports from our user community about missing notifications or difficulty logging into Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones v1.9.0.20. We want to know more about these potential issues. So, if you have experienced problems, we want to know about them! Please comment on this post with the following information:

• The specific error message you received or the specific notification you missed
• The version of Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones you are running – you can find this in Options > Applications or Options > Device > Application Management
• The version of BlackBerry® Device Software you are running – you can find this in Options > About or Options > Device > About Device Versions
• Your wireless service provider and your data plan
• Your location (country)
• If you have recently changed wireless service providers or BlackBerry® smartphones
• If you have recently changed anything related to your Facebook® account or privacy settings (i.e. changed your sign-in email address or password)
• If you are using Facebook on multiple mobile devices
• If you were able to resolve the issue, and if so, how you resolved it

Thank you for your help as we work with you to identify and learn more about your experiences with our applications.

UPDATE (1/25/2011): Thanks to everyone for your valuable feedback! The Research In Motion® (RIM) Development team is continuing to investigate these potential issues. Thanks for your patience as we work toward a resolution.

UPDATE (3/4/2011): An updated version of Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones is now available, click here to learn more!

Did you recently purchase a BlackBerry® 6-equipped BlackBerry® smartphone such as the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 smartphone, the BlackBerry® Bold 9780 smartphone or the BlackBerry® Style™ 9670 smartphone? Are you considering purchasing one in the near future? If so, I’d like to talk about some of the preloaded applications that are included in BlackBerry 6. For more information on each application I’ve listed below, simply click on the Application name to visit the applications website.

Facebook

Stay on top of your social life with Facebook® for BlackBerry smartphones. This free application makes Facebook services – like sending messages, poking friends, writing wall posts, inviting friends to join and uploading photos – available on the go!

Look for the Facebook icon in the All window.

Twitter

Be among the first to know what’s happening. With Twitter® for BlackBerry smartphones, you can get your Direct Messages as soon as they arrive, and even view them in your message list! It even works with your BlackBerry® Browser and BlackBerry smartphone camera, so it only takes a moment to post a link or upload a picture directly to Twitter. Plus, you can follow friends, search for a topic of interest, edit ReTweets, and find users quickly by typing @usernames.

Look for the Twitter icon in the All window. (Also, check out Sean’s post about basic features for Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones!)

BlackBerry Podcasts

Get free podcasts delivered directly to you with the BlackBerry® Podcast app. Subscribe to your favorite podcasts, or download some new ones, and watch them when you want on your BlackBerry smartphone.

The BlackBerry Podcast app allows you to do the following:

• Browse and search for free podcasts from categories like Arts, TV & Movies, News and more.
• Subscribe to, download and play podcasts directly from your BlackBerry smartphone.
• Receive notifications when new episodes of your podcasts are available, and download them.

Look for the BlackBerry Podcasts application in the Media window.

To learn more about these applications in addition to other features available in BlackBerry 6, please review the user guide for your particular BlackBerry smartphone which can be found at the BlackBerry Documentation site. I also recommend visiting the BlackBerry 6 website as it contains additional information as well as videos from BlackBerry smartphone users discussing some of their favorite features in BlackBerry 6.

If you are using Twitter, please feel free to ask @BlackBerryHelp any questions you may have regarding your BlackBerry smartphone, as they would be happy to help you out. In addition to @BlackBerryHelp, don’t forgot to visit the BlackBerry Support Forums, where the BlackBerry smartphone community can provide assistance if you have any additional questions.

Which of these preloaded apps do you use the most? For me, it’s definitely Twitter as I like staying on top of the news. What about you? Leave a comment and let me know!

I’ve written before about Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones 1.9 and the cool new feature called Facebook Places. But every now and then I’m unable to update my location, and I get a message telling me that “Your location is temporarily not available”. There are a few reasons why this happens, and I wanted to share this info with you!

When the message appears, this means that your current location – such as an elevator, an underground parking garage, or anywhere else that may have poor cell reception – may not be accessible via Facebook Places at this time. At this point, before you do anything else, try moving to a location with better cell reception. Ideally, you want to be outdoors, as it’s easier to obtain a GPS signal. In most cases, this should address the issue.

However, if the message is still appearing when you try to check in, there are a few possible reasons for this:

1) The attempts to acquire a GPS or cell site location have failed. This may mean a number of things, such as:
- Your wireless provider does not support cell site location service
- Facebook Places may not be able to obtain a GPS signal while indoors
- Your BlackBerry smartphone may not contain GPS functionality and is running BlackBerry Device Software 4.5, 4.6, 4.6.1, 4.7 or 4.7.1, which do not support cell site location (see KB25069)
- Wireless service is not available at your current location
- A temporary issue affecting GPS may be occurring

2) Your BlackBerry smartphone’s Location Services are disabled or have been turned off.
- Check out my previous post to find out how to enable Location Services on your BlackBerry smartphone.
- There may also be some IT policies enabled that affect how Facebook Places functions – see KB24995 for details.

If your device is capable of providing Location Services and they are in fact enabled, you may want to check in with @BlackBerryHelp or visit the BlackBerry Support Community Forums for further assistance. You may also want to review this article from the BlackBerry Technical Solution Center for additional troubleshooting steps.

Let us know if you have any questions!

One of the great new additions to Facebook® for BlackBerry® smartphones 1.9 is the ability to let your friends know where you are using Facebook Places. Want your friends to meet you for sushi? Using this new feature, you can easily check in and tell them where you are!

But before you get started, there are a few simple steps that you’ll need to take to properly allow the application to find your location and check you in to your favorite Places.

By default, the option Share my Location with Facebook is disabled (unchecked) and may also appear as a non-editable/grayed checkbox. This option will remain grayed out until the application is able to determine that you have allowed Facebook to use Places and you have accepted the Places disclaimer.

1. Open Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones.
2. Click the Places (P) icon.
3. Click the Check In button once it appears.
4. Select a location from the list that appears, or select Add a Place and enter a Name and Description, before clicking Create.

The following disclaimer is then displayed with the option to accept or decline:

Once this disclaimer is accepted, the Share my Location with Facebook will work. If you want to turn it off later on, simply press the Menu button, select Options and scroll to the option Share my Location with Facebook – adjust as you please.

(Please note your Facebook profile privacy settings may also require some configuration in order to allow Facebook Places to be shared. Please see the Privacy settings in Facebook for more information.)

To acquire a location using GPS technology, a BlackBerry smartphone with GPS capability must be used and location services must be enabled on the BlackBerry smartphone. If this option is disabled, Places will not function correctly. If the BlackBerry smartphone does not have GPS capability, Places will use cell site location services to determine your approximate location, providing Location Services are set to Location On.

To enable Location Services, complete the following steps:

On a BlackBerry smartphone with BlackBerry® Device Software 5.0:

1. Select Option
2. Select Advanced Options
3. Select GPS
4. Ensure GPS Services is set to Location On

On a BlackBerry smartphone with BlackBerry® 6:

1. From the homescreen, select the Search icon
2. Type Location Services
3. Select Options
4. Select Location Settings
5. Ensure Location Services is set to Location On

Please note that if Location Services is not available, your wireless carrier may not be allowing GPS access. Please contact your wireless provider for more information.

[Updated December 6, 2010]   If you are do not see a Check In option, your BlackBerry smartphone may not meet the minimum requirements to use this feature, or is encountering difficulty obtaining your location. Please review the following Knowledge Base article for additional assistance: http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/KB25069

If you see the message “Your location is temporarily not available” when attempting to use Places in Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones, check out www.blackberry.com/btsc/kb24970.

Now you are ready to use Facebook Places from your BlackBerry smartphone. Where will you check in first?