With over 170 new blog posts over the last 12 months, needless to say it’s been an incredible year on the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog! To help kick off the New Year, here’s a listing of some of my favorite Five Tip Friday posts from 2012:

Five Tip Friday – Our Favorite BBM Tips
Five Tip Friday – BlackBerry Ty’s Favorite PlayBook Tips
Five Tip Friday – Enhancing the Phone App on a BlackBerry smartphone
Five Tip Friday – Five reasons why BlackBerry Maps is awesome!
Five Tip Friday – Five reasons you should consider using Social Feeds
Five Tip Friday – Efficient BlackBerry Smartphone Keyboard Shortcuts
Five Tip Friday – Social Networking Tips for BlackBerry smartphones
Five Tip Friday – BlackBerry smartphone Contacts Tips
Five Tip Friday – Securing personal information on a BlackBerry smartphone
Five Tip Friday – Efficient email on a BlackBerry smartphone
Five Tip Friday – BlackBerry Maps on BlackBerry 7 OS
Five Tip Friday – Using the Pictures app on a BlackBerry smartphone
Five Tip Friday – BlackBerry Brian’s Favorite Tips!

I should add that while we are going away for the holidays, our friends at @BlackBerryHelp on Twitter will be available to assist you with any BlackBerry smartphone or BlackBerry PlayBook tablet questions you might have. Also, don’t forget to stop by the BlackBerry Support Community Forums so you can join in on thousands of discussions with other BlackBerry owners.

Thanks again for a great year and we look forward to providing you lots of tips, tricks and more throughout 2013.

Happy holidays from the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog!

I love connecting with other #TeamBlackBerry folks daily on the BlackBerry® Support Community as the Community Manager. I’m very fortunate to have a position that keeps my fingers on the pulse of #TeamBlackBerry with the device that keeps us all connected to what we love: a BlackBerry® smartphone.

Last Thursday we all got together for the #My1stBlackBerry chat on Twitter® and it was awesome! It was a great opportunity to chat with all of you on a personal level and hear about the experiences we all share through our mutual love of our BlackBerry devices. If you’ve never participated in a Twitter chat before, you can learn more in our Get Ready – Upcoming #My1stBlackBerry Twitter chat post.

It was amazing to hear from long time users about their original BlackBerry® 950 devices – one of our first mobile email devices – as well as from newcomers to #TeamBlackBerry with their first BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone.You may have seen that my first smartphone was the groundbreaking BlackBerry® 7290 smartphone with a color screen that I first started using in 2006. That’s when I started connecting to everything I love.

Thanks to everyone who jumped in to share their experiences and help others make the best of their BlackBerry devices! I have been working the @BlackBerryHelp team back when there were less than 10,000 followers and what a fantastic ride it has been. You can read a bit more about the team in this interview with Michele and Brian from the @BlackBerryHelp Team.

There were some great comments and fun chat had by everyone! Here are just a few:

@BlackBerryHelp I keep #My1stBlackBerry in a blackberry basket. It's a piece of art! http://t.co/uI5VJSvG—
Heather Hickey (@kickyhick) November 01, 2012

@BlackBerryHelp #My1stBlackBerry A4: I give every application it's own ringtone. So I can tell if it's fb or twitter or BBM just by the tone—
Emmanuel (@Ece_BluR) November 01, 2012

@jameystarett @BlackBerryHelp closing non-essential apps is key to long battery life, & dimming screen works too #My1stBlackBerry—
Shawn Robert Harvey (@TwistMyMind) November 01, 2012

Add my family+friend's bbPIN "@BlackBerryHelp: Q1: What's the first thing you did when you got your first #BlackBerry? #My1stBlackBerry ^BR"—
Michael Ovan59 | 林道范 (@mich_ofan) November 01, 2012

@BlackBerryHelp #My1stBlackBerry was BB 950 in 2002. Ran off single AA battery. Probably had on average 2 new diff BB's / year since then—
Trevor Swenson  (@quid_nunc) November 01, 2012

Didn’t get to share your #My1stBlackBerry story with us? Leave it for us in the comments!

Just over a year ago, @BlackBerryHelp reached the 500,000 follower mark, and on October 30th, 2012, they surpassed one million followers!

For those who are unfamiliar with @BlackBerryHelp, this Twitter® account is managed by a group of dedicated BlackBerry® Support staff who engage with BlackBerry customers around the world to help support BlackBerry products and services. (For our international readers, we offer Spanish support via @AyudaBlackBerry as well Indonesian support from @BlackBerryBantu!)

Recently I was able to sit down with Michele and Brian from @BlackBerryHelp to talk about their team.

HELP BLOG: Thanks for taking the time to meet with me, Michele & Brian. My first question to kick things off here is pretty simple: Can you tell me about the team as well as a little bit about yourself and how you got involved with social support?

Michele: Counting myself, the @BlackBerryHelp team consists of 12 individuals based out of Halifax, Canada, working around the clock to help #TeamBlackBerry get the most from their BlackBerry devices.

Brian: I am one of the original @BlackBerryHelp team members and have been a part of the team for over three years now. I started out with RIM working in telephone support before joining the @BlackBerryHelp team. Assisting customers over the phone helped me with my customer service and technical skills. These skills have been very valuable in providing the best support possible through @BlackBerryHelp. In three years, it’s been incredible to see us grow from a few thousand followers to over one million this week.

Michele: My primary role as a team leader of the @BlackBerryHelp team is managing and monitoring team performance and our customers’ expectations. In addition to Twitter, we’re also active on Facebook®, the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog and the BlackBerry Community Support Forums. Our customers’ expectations are changing, and as more people contact us for support on social media we want to make sure we’re able to respond quickly and effectively.

HELP BLOG: That leads me to another question that I’m sure many of your followers wonder: @BlackBerryHelp responds to hundreds of tweets per day?! What does it take to respond to all those tweets?

Michele: On a weekly basis, BlackBerry social channels receive over 16,000 inquiries from customers, so it takes a great deal of passion and BlackBerry knowledge to respond to our customers quickly so that they can get on with their day. We work together with our other social media properties to answer our customers’ questions without them having to pick up the phone.

HELP BLOG: @BlackBerryHelp added its 500,000th follower in 2011 and just hit one million followers roughly a year later. Have there been any other standout moments for your team in the past two years?

Brian: The very fact that we hit one million followers is an incredible accomplishment in itself considering when I started with the team we had only three team members and just over 3,000 followers. But one of the best moments for me was when our @BlackBerryHelp customers nominated us to win a Shorty Award in 2010 for providing Customer Service through Twitter.

Michele: Along with our second Shorty Award win for Best Use of Social Media for Customer Service in 2011, we were also recognized by socialfresh.com for being one of the Top 10 brands on Twitter for 2011. It’s been an exciting few years for the team!

HELP BLOG: What’s in store for @BlackBerryHelp in 2013?

Brian: Bigger is better, but we also want to make sure that we are responding to the individual behind every inquiry we receive. Through Twitter, we’re able to help more of our customers than ever, but keeping that feeling of a one-to-one conversation is a big priority for me.

Michele: That’s a great question! Part of my role is to think ahead to the second million followers, and make sure that #TeamBlackBerry continues to get a world-class experience in every interaction as our social media presence grows. I’d encourage all of you to continue following us to witness the evolution of our @BlackBerryHelp account!

HELP BLOG: Thanks for your time Michele and Brian, and on behalf of #TeamBlackBerry, thank you for providing great support!

Has @BlackBerryHelp helped you? Tell us how in the comments.

I am very excited to share the news that on October 30th, 2012 around 3am EST, @BlackBerryHelp rolled over 1,000,000 followers! For those who don’t know, @BlackBerryHelp is a team of 12 BlackBerry® experts who provide around-the-clock support for BlackBerry customers on Twitter®.

To help celebrate this milestone, we are holding a Twitter® chat on November 1st at 7pm EST so we can talk 1:1 with you and the rest of #TeamBlackBerry. During this chat we’d love to hear your thoughts on how we’re doing, and more importantly, how can we better assist you in the future! For information about this Twitter chat and how you can participate, make sure you check out our blog post Get Ready – Upcoming #My1stBlackBerry Twitter Chat.

On behalf of the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog team, congratulations again @BlackBerryHelp on reaching one million followers, and we look forward to celebrating the next milestone!

If you’re on Twitter, head over to
http://twitter.com/BlackBerryHelp
to leave the team a congratulatory message or post a comment below.

[ YouTube link for mobile viewing ]

In a short amount of time, the team behind our @BlackBerryHelp Twitter® account will be celebrating a huge new milestone: breaking the one million follower mark!

To celebrate this milestone, we want to talk 1:1 with #TeamBlackBerry and learn more about your personal histories, such as your first BlackBerry® smartphone or a unique experience you may have had with #TeamBlackBerry. So whether you are just getting started with a BlackBerry device or a long-time veteran, we’d love to hear your thoughts on how we’re doing and how we can better assist you in the future!

To take part in this Twitter chat, all you need to do is follow the @BlackBerryHelp Twitter account, and on November 1st at 7pm EST, search for the hashtag #My1stBlackBerry.

To help you get the most out of this Twitter Chat, here are a few tips:

• Introduce yourself when you join
• Be polite and friendly towards other participants
• Use the hashtag #My1stBlackBerry for all tweets during the chat
• When questions are asked using the format of Q1/Q2/Q3, indicate which question you are responding to by using the same format to respond; i.e. A1/A2/A3
• Share tweets with your followers using the retweet option
• If you are using the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones app to follow along, consider using the Saved Search option to follow the chat

We look forward to chatting with you soon!

Before we begin, if you haven’t already installed the app on your BlackBerry smartphone, simply open the BlackBerry App World™ storefront, press the Menu key, and use the “Scan A Barcode” feature to scan the following barcode:

1. Shortcuts, Shortcuts, Shortcuts!

Depending on which type of BlackBerry smartphone you are using, Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones offers several useful shortcuts. Listed below are five shortcuts that I use the most, but to view them all make sure you check out the Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones User Guide – Shortcuts section.

• To compose a tweet, press C.
• To refresh your tweet timeline, press D.
• To go to the Search screen, press the ALT key and 5.
• To reply to a direct message or tweet, highlight the direct message or tweet. Press R.
• To reply to all of the people that are mentioned in a tweet, highlight the tweet. Press L.

2. Notification of Replies and Mentions

After logging into Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones, you will be notified whenever someone who follows you mentions you or replies to a tweet that you’ve sent. You can optionally change this so you get notified whenever someone replies to you or mentions you in a tweet, regardless of whether or not they follow you. To review your notification options and customize this setting – in addition to several useful notification/refresh settings – complete the steps below:

1. Open Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones
2. Press the Menu key and select “Options”
3. To get notified of replies and mentions, check the ‘Notify on replies and mentions’ box
4. Set your desired ‘When posted by’ setting to either ‘Following’ or ‘All Users’

3. Undo a Retweet

As of Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones v3.1, you now have the ability to undo a retweet. I have a bad habit of retweeting when I should have used the “quote tweet” option, so needless to say, I love this new feature!

All you need to do is highlight your retweet, press the menu key and select “Undo Retweet” as per the following screenshot.

4. Search Nearby Tweets

The next time you are at a concert, sporting event, or just visiting a new place, consider using the Search Nearby feature to stay on top of what’s going on around you. This is a great way to interact with new people and find activities. For example, just the other week I was able to discover an amazing Twitter account that provided me with lots of news on local events, traffic and more while I was at the family cottage.

To run a search for tweets that are nearby as well as other possible search options, complete the following steps:

1. Open Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones
2. Select or tap on the Search icon that appears along the top
3. Type your search criteria and select one of the following options:

• ‘Search Term’ – A search will be performed.
• ‘Search Term’ nearby – Only Tweets from nearby geographic locations will be shown.
• ‘Search Term’ in people – Perform a search for other Twitter users using the search term.
• ‘Goto @Search Term’ – View a specific Twitter account based on the Search Term that was used.

5. Tweeting on behalf of a business or brand? Use Spell Check!

Looking for an easy way to avoid an embarrassing situation? Consider enabling the Spell Check feature so any Tweets you plan on posting (especially if you are posting on behalf of a business or a brand) do not contain spelling mistakes.

To enable Spell Check in Tweets or Direct Messages, complete the following steps.

1. Open Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones
2. Press the Menu key and select “Options”
3. Select the “Spell Check Before Sending” check box.

Got a tip you want to share? Leave a comment and let us know!

Let’s get started:

1. Use the Help App on your BlackBerry device

If you want to know how to use an app or feature on your device, each and every BlackBerry® smartphone and BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet comes with a Help app. You can search using keywords or select the “Getting Started” option, which will provide an overview of the features and functionality of the device you are using. Check out the screenshot below to see what the Help app looks like on the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet.

2. Read the Inside BlackBerry Help Blog

The Inside BlackBerry Help Blog – which you’re reading right now! – is full of blog posts we’ve published to help you learn, explore and enjoy BlackBerry products. I have the luxury of knowing the topics available in archived posts because I work with the blog every day, but you might not, so let me provide you with a few tips for finding what you need.

To find blog posts which will help answer your questions, you have a couple of options. First, we have a search box in the top right corner — enter a keyword and hit search.

The second option is to scroll down the page and click on one of the tags we’ve added for your convenience on the right. The Tag Cloud has popular products and features; if, for example, you clicked on the “How-To” tag, you will be provided all the blog posts we tagged as having tips and tricks for BlackBerry products.

3. Search the BlackBerry Technical Solution Center

The BlackBerry Knowledge Base is an invaluable resource when you are looking for a solution or technical information about our products and services. If you are experiencing a problem, there is a good chance that someone has experienced already, and we’ve helped them solve it. Based on the issue, we’ve then created an article and added it to the knowledge base so you can find the answers you need fast.

The BlackBerry Knowledge Base also has technical information about our products. For example, imagine you are trying to find out what the maximum size of MicroSD media card your BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700 smartphone will support. If you search “MicroSD card sizes” in the BlackBerry Knowledge Base search bar, the first article found is KB05461 – MicroSD card sizes supported by the BlackBerry device software.

Note: Always check the “Environment” section of a BlackBerry Knowledge Base Article; this way you can ensure that the article you are viewing contains information relevant to the device you are using.

4. Ask Questions at the BlackBerry Support Community Forums

The BlackBerry Support Community Forums are full of knowledgeable BlackBerry users who are anxious to help out their peers. If you have a question, problem or just want to chat with other BlackBerry aficionados, then this is the place for you.

You are not required to have an account to browse, search for information and read the post; however, you are unable to participate in the community unless you register for an account. Registering for an account allows you to interact with other users and get the help you need — here’s a rundown of what members are able to do:

• Post new messages and reply to other members’ posts
• Receive e-mail when someone responds to a specific post or thread
• Exchange Private Messages with other members
• Personalize your experience in the community with literally hundreds of customization settings

Note: Check out the BlackBerry Support Communities’ Getting Started page to make sure you get the most out of the experience.

Speak Spanish or Indonesian? We have BlackBerry Support Communities for you as well!

• For our Spanish-speaking friends – Foros de Soporte Comunitario BlackBerry
• For our Indonesian-speaking friends – Forum Komunitas Dukungan BlackBerry

5. Follow @BlackBerryHelp on Twitter

From Monday to Saturday each week, the Research In Motion® (RIM®) Twitter® feed @BlackBerryHelp tweets tips, links to valuable information, and answers questions posed by BlackBerry users like you. Even if you don’t have a question to ask, I highly recommend following this feed because you never know what you might learn about your smartphone or tablet!

If you do have a question, let us do the leg work for you. We offer DM support, so ask your question or tell us about a problem you are having and we’ll provide a helpful link or solution via Twitter. Getting help has never been so easy.

Bonus: Watch videos at the BlackBerry Support YouTube Channel

If you are a visual learner like me, you’ll want to check out BlackBerry Help’s YouTube® page. You can watch videos which will help get you started with a new device; for example, the video guide to setting up an email address with your BlackBerry smartphone.

There are also lots of troubleshooting and how-to videos, like this one which explains updating BlackBerry PlayBook software.

Do you have a tip for getting BlackBerry help? Leave a comment below!

If you aren’t already following @BlackBerryHelp and you want to receive lots of tips and tricks, start following today using Twitter for BlackBerry smartphones and keep an eye out for the #BBTips hashtag.

With that being said, here are the five popular tips that we’ve shared with our fantastic followers:

1. Video Camera Flashlight

Try the following steps to quickly turn a physical keyboard-equipped BlackBerry smartphone into a flashlight so you can find your way!

1. Open the Video Camera app
2. Press the space key to turn on or turn off the flashlight.

Note: Using a smartphone with a virtual keyboard only, such as the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9850 smartphone? If so, you can also make it a flashlight by opening the Video Camera App and pressing the Menu key, then selecting Options followed by checking the box for Video Light.

2. Copy contacts from a SIM Card

Did you recently upgrade to a new BlackBerry smartphone or are switching a different model? If so, complete the following steps to copy your contacts stored on your SIM card to your new smartphone.

Add one contact from a SIM card to a BlackBerry smartphone

1. On the BlackBerry smartphone, open Contacts
2. Display the menu and select SIM Phone Book. The SIM phone book will be loaded
3. Select the contact you want to import, and then select Add to Contacts
4. That contact will be then added to your BlackBerry smartphone Contacts list.

Add all contacts from a SIM card to a BlackBerry smartphone

1. On the BlackBerry smartphone, open Contacts
2. Display the menu and select SIM Phone Book. The SIM phone book will be loaded
3. Display the menu and select Copy All To Contacts
4. This will add all contacts to your BlackBerry smartphone Contacts list
5. Check your Contacts on the device to ensure that they transferred properly.

Check out Eric’s post on how to transfer contacts from your SIM card to learn more. You can also look up the user guide for your BlackBerry smartphone.

3. Autotext/Word Substitution

One of my favorite tips to share with other BlackBerry smartphone owners is the ability to use Autotext/Word Substitution to quickly enter information you commonly enter, such as your PIN number, the current date or the expansion of an abbreviated term.

For example, if you type something that can be replaced with an Autotext entry, the text changes after you press the Space key (BRB will change to Be Right Back if you’ve added it to your Autotext database).

Here a few must-know Autotext/Word Substitution entries:

1. mypin – Your BlackBerry smartphone PIN, i.e. “pin:XXXXXXX”
2. mynumber – Your BlackBerry smartphone phone number, i.e.” XXXXXXXXXX”
3. ld – The long date, i.e. “Thu, May 10, 2012”
4. lt – Long time, i.e. “10:24:10 AM”

In addition to the entries above, your BlackBerry smartphone includes dozens more! To view them as well create some of your own, check out the user guide for your BlackBerry smartphone.

4. How to perform a soft reset

A soft reset is a three-key combination that resets the BlackBerry smartphone without removing the battery. This method of resetting a smartphone is only available on BlackBerry smartphone models with a QWERTY keyboard, such as the BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900 smartphone or BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810 smartphone.

To perform a soft reset, complete the following steps.

1. Press and hold the Alt key (1)
2. While holding down the Alt key, press and hold the Right Shift key (2)
3. With both of those buttons still pressed, press the Backspace/Delete key (3)
4. When the screen turns off to indicate that the BlackBerry smartphone is restarting, you can then release the keys you have been holding.

To learn more, read our blog post on how to reset a BlackBerry smartphone.

5. Message shortcuts

For those using a BlackBerry smartphone that has a physical keyboard (such as the BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone or the BlackBerry Torch 9810 smartphone), try the following shortcuts while using the Messages app to fly around your inbox and manage messages quickly!

While viewing a message:

• R – Reply to a message
• L – Reply to all in a email or PIN message
• F – Forward a message
• I – File a email message
• N – Move to the next message
• P – Move to the previous message

While viewing your messages inbox:

• C – Compose a message from a message inbox
• Alt + U – Mark a message as read or unread
• W – Add a flag to the message
• ALT + F – View all flagged messages
• ALT + I – View received messages and received call logs
• ALT + O – View draft and sent messages
• ALT + V – View voice mail messages
• ALT + S – View text messages
• ALT + P – View call logs

Moving around your messages inbox:

• Shift + Space – Move up a screen
• Space – Move down a screen
• T – Move to the top of the inbox
• B – Move to the bottom of the inbox
• U – Move to the next unread item
• J – Move to the next related message
• K – Move to the previous related message

To learn about other useful shortcuts, including shortcuts for those using touch screen-only devices such as the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9860 or BlackBerry® Curve™ 9380 smartphone, make sure you check out the user guide for your BlackBerry smartphone.

Got a question? Leave a comment and let me know!

The postcard above was made using Scrapbook, a free app for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet available on the BlackBerry App World™ storefront!

Hola #TeamBlackBerry, it’s time to introduce you to another face behind @AyudaBlackBerry! Jose (aka ^JC) is a traveller, a self-proclaimed gadget fanatic, and like all of our social support analysts, a true technical expert. He’s devoted to helping BlackBerry® customers solve technical issues, and deserves a round of applause for his high energy and strong work ethic. Although I don’t work with Jose on a daily basis (since he’s in Texas and I’m in Canada), I’ve heard that he’s a rock star in the office. He’s the type of guy who makes me proud to be part of #TeamBlackBerry!

Read on and get to know Jose a little better:

What is your favorite app developed by Research In Motion® (RIM®) for your BlackBerry smartphone?

I would have to say BlackBerry® Travel™! I love how I can enter my travel information and go without having to carry multiple printed documents.

What is your favorite BlackBerry smartphone tip/trick?

My favorite tip/trick is the Bedside Mode option inside the Clock application. While I like keeping my BlackBerry smartphone by my side at all times, I hate when email alerts wake me up. With Bedside Mode, I’ve created a special profile that silences all of my notifications – it even dims the display and turns off the radio communications. Be sure to check out Brian’s post about using the Bedside Mode on your BlackBerry smartphone for more!

What do you like best about your job?

I really like when I answer a customer’s question and receive confirmation that their issue was resolved. I also love hearing when my tips or solutions help fellow members of #TeamBlackBerry. And while it’s challenging to fit detailed responses within the 140-character limit on Twitter®, I always find creative ways to relay information and take care of our customers.

What is the most used tool on your BlackBerry smartphone?

I frequently use the BlackBerry® Device Analyzer application within BlackBerry® OS 7.1. It helps me keep track of activities that affect my device’s battery life, and even activates battery saving mode when I forget to charge my device.

How long have you been working for the Social Support Team?

By the end of this month, I will have been with the team for a full year.

Tell us a little about your growing up and where you’re from.

I was born and raised in Mexico City, but my family is originally from Spain. I moved to Dallas, Texas two and a half years ago, and really enjoy it here! While I do miss my friends from Mexico, I’m grateful for BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), which helps me keep in touch with them.

I’ve always been interested in technology, and am definitely the type of guy who reads manuals and teaches friends and family about extra features that most people don’t know about. I guess it makes sense that I also LOVE gadgets. Whenever a new gadget comes out, I feel the urge to buy it (and more often than not, I end up getting it). Take my BlackBerry PlayBook tablet for instance – I got it the day it launched, and I’m so glad I did! It has literally replaced my personal computer.

Thanks for your time, Jose! Readers, let Jose know if you have any questions for him in the comments.

The postcard above was made using Scrapbook, a free app for the BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet available on BlackBerry App World™!

If you like listening to music on your BlackBerry® smartphone, then keep an eye out for #BBTips from Jorge (aka ^JV) on @AyudaBlackBerry! In addition to being a lover of music and soccer (as evidenced in the postcard above), Jorge is an integral member of our Spanish social support team. Jorge is primarily responsible for answering customer questions on Twitter®, but also has a hand in operating the Foros de Soporte Comunitario de BlackBerry, which celebrated their one-year anniversary last month!

The Spanish social support team is a hardworking crew of BlackBerry technical experts. Their work can be taken for granted as we often overlook the fact that real people are responsible for answering questions on Twitter. My goal with this blog series is to foster a more direct connection between our customers and the people behind our social support channels – to put a face with a name (or in this case, initials)!

I met with Jorge last week and can confirm that he’s more than a voice on the Internet, so I encourage you to read on to get to know him a little better!

How long have you been working for the Social Support Team?

I joined Research in Motion® (RIM®) in 2008, and I joined the Social Support Team in January 2011.

What do you like best about your job?

It’s different every day, as we don’t always know what types of questions we’re going to see on Twitter and the forums.

What type of BlackBerry smartphone do you have?

Currently I’m working with two BlackBerry smartphones – the BlackBerry® Torch™ 9800 and BlackBerry® Bold™ 9930 smartphones.

What is your favorite BlackBerry smartphone tip/trick?

I listen to music when I work out, so I love the audio shortcuts that allow you to quickly skip tracks:

• To skip to the next song, press and hold the Volume Up key.
• To replay the previous song, press and hold the Volume Down key.

What is your favorite app developed by RIM for your BlackBerry smartphone?

I have to say that BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™) is my all-time favorite. It helps me keep in touch with my family in Guatemala.

Tell us a little about your growing up and where you’re from.

I was born in Guatemala City. When I was a year and a half, my parents moved to New Jersey. I was raised in New Jersey until my junior year in high school – then we moved to Dallas, Texas, and we have been here since 1998.

What type of music do you listen to? Do you listen to music at work? If so, what type of music do you prefer to listen to while you are working?

This is a tough one! I like all kinds of music so it all depends on the type of day I’m having. I like listening to house music to get pumped up for soccer games and on my way to work.

Listening to music at work is a must for me because it helps me concentrate. At the office, I like playing music on shuffle – on any given day I’ll listen to a wide variety of genres, including Merengue, Salsa, Bachata, R&B, House, Pop, Reggaeton and anything else from my playlist.

Thanks for your time, Jorge! Readers, let Jorge know if you have any questions for him in the comments.