This is the post where for the first time I publicly state that I'm GENUINELY EXCITED about BBM Channels. When first unveiled at BlackBerry Live, I admit I wasn't actually all that optimistic or enthusiastic about the new BBM feature. With other social platforms like twitter, instagram, facebook, tumblr, etc. so well established, could BBM Channels really differentiate itself in features? And even if they did build out a feature set that seemed worthwhile to Channel owners, would non-BBM Channel owners (just regular BBM users) take to following channels and participating with them?
After yet again spending some quality time in BBM Channels this weekend, the evidence is beginning to appear that Channels may just have more legs that I initially thought. A lot more. When it comes to the performance metrics of CrackBerry and all our Mobile Nations sites, I'm always clued in on a daily basis to where things are at. Somehow though, I managed to neglect to pay attention to our CrackBerry BBM Channel stats the past few weeks. With BBM Channels now out of beta, we shot up in subscribers from around 11,000 to over 60,000. Amazing! Of course, CrackBerry has an established audience and brand and is tied to BlackBerry, but it was still great to see this growth in such a short time. And the views, comments, and likes on a post by post basis are really quite impressive (see image above).
