Creative Media Works, a standalone consumer-focused social networking business operating as BBM, has revealed BBM News is available in Africa, particularly Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and SA.
The free service, according to the company, is also available to users worldwide and will provide global and local news and entertainment stories from news providers around the world.
Creative Media has a long-term alliance with BlackBerry to fast-track consumers' BBM usage by offering new features, services and content. The news service is developed in-house by BBM, but powered by Outbrain, and has been integrated into the BBM Discover experience.
"Accessible from the BBM Discover menu, this new service provides a personalised experience that 'learns' which news stories are important to each user. It also includes the ability to share news, making it easier for consumers to pass along interesting articles," says the company.
"Outbrain is pushing further onto new platforms, beyond the traditional definition of Web publishers," notes Matt Crenshaw, global head of distribution at Outbrain.
"Being able to bridge the content and messaging worlds is extremely exciting for us, and allows us to drive advancements with our technology. Our partnership with BBM gives us the opportunity to provide personalised content recommendations at scale."
BBM is one of the largest mobile messaging applications in the world. The app is still popular in SA and other African countries.
In 2015, it was stated there were over 22 million registered BBM users in Africa and over 380 million messages are sent daily.
In January, BBM Games was launched through BBM Discover, enabling users to receive instant access to a catalogue of HTML5 games, with no app download required. This formed part of a partnership between Creative Media and Softgames, a producer and distributor of HTML5 instant play.
"People around the world are increasingly using their mobiles to read news and share articles. Along with texting, calling and e-mail, reading news is one of the most popular things people do on their mobiles. This launch of global and local curated news brings more of what people want to BBM," says Matthew Talbot, CEO of Creative Media Works.
BBM is available for download on BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices.
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