Setting up Facebook for BlackBerry

Do you have the need to poke your friends? Feel like sharing the ins and outs of your day? Want to read about your friends' farms and mafia? Then Facebook is the application for you. As one of the most popular social networking sites today, and a BlackBerry Super App, Facebook is compatible with BlackBerry devices running OS4.5+. Setting up the application is quick and painless and you can create an account in a matter of minutes.

Getting Started 

The first thing you will need to do is download the application to your device. Facebook can be downloaded OTA at www.blackberry.com/facebook or through BlackBerry App World.

When you are finished installing I recommend performing a battery pull.  Check out our BlackBerry 101 article about battery pulls for more information.

After the phone reboots, click on the Facebook icon located in your download folder or on your home screen. You will need to accept the Facebook End User License Agreement or EULA which will take you to the login screen. Existing members can enter their email address and password while new users will need to create a Facebook account to proceed.

Creating an account on your device

• Click on Sign Up located on the bottom right of the application. As you cannot create an account from within the application itself you will be redirected to your browser to begin the process.
• You will be presented with the option of registering an account using your cell number or your e-mail address.

• If you are registering using your phone number you must select your Country and click Submit. On the next screen, you will be asked to provide your first and last name, phone number (including carrier), password, date of birth, and gender.
• If you are registering using your email, click on the corresponding link. You will be asked to provide the same information as before and your email address.

• To complete registration, click on Sign Up. You can now close out of your browser, return to the application, and enter your login information.

Creating an account from your home computer

• Go to www.facebook.com. On the main screen you will be asked to enter in your first and last name, your email, password, gender, and date of birth.

• Click on sign up. You will be redirected to a security check page where you will be asked to enter two words separated by a space (see the example below).

• Next, you will be asked to find friends, complete your profile Information, and upload a profile picture. You can skip each of these steps and go right to finalizing the process.

• When complete, your account is set up and ready to use.
• Simply go back to your device and enter in your login and password associated with your new account and you‘re done.

Setting up the application

As you will be logging in for the first time you will be asked to complete the setup wizard.

• You will be asked to link your Facebook account with your BB message application (to receive notifications in your messages box), your BB calendar (to add event invitations to your calendar), and your BlackBerry contacts (to sync profile pictures and contact information). Don't worry about what to choose right away, you can always return to this screen from the options menu to modify.
• When you have made your choice click Next. 

• Finally you will be asked how often Facebook should check for new feeds and how many to display at a time.
• You have the choice of never, every 30 minutes, every 1 hour, every 2 hours, and every 3 hours. Having an application constantly check for feeds drains battery power. I recommend choosing the every 2 or every 3 hour option. 

• Click Save. You will be redirected to your main News Feed Page.

The second icon at the top will have a red asterisk. If you scroll and click on the notifications icon, you will have received two messages from Facebook: Getting Started and The Next Step. Both are filled with important shortcuts and helpful hints to using the application.

Shortcuts 

• F - See friend list
• M - Send message
• P - Poke
• S - See status updates
• U - Upload a picture
• V - Send friend request
• W- Write on a friend's wall 

Congratulations! You now have access to all your friends news feeds,can receive and send messages, access wall posts and notifications, upload pictures to share, ‘like' anything you want, and visit CrackBerry.com's Facebook page.

Download Facebook for BlackBerry