Following Z10 launch in the US, BlackBerry gives Facebook app its first update and Twitter its second

BlackBerry launched the Z10 in the US on March 22, and less than a week later BlackBerry has announced updates for its Facebook and Twitter apps. This is the first update to Facebook, so it’s received noticeably more features, and the second update for Twitter.

For those wondering, yes, unlike Google and Apple, Microsoft and BlackBerry develop some of their social apps for their mobile platforms. This is simply the reality of not being first or second in the mobile industry: Facebook and Twitter don’t want to build for your platform unless its Android or iOS.

Without further ado, here are the new features for the first Facebook update:

• Friends Nearby – Now, Facebook for BlackBerry 10 allows you to discover if your Facebook friends are nearby. You’ll be able to see when they’ve checked in on Facebook to a location that’s close to where you are.
• Photo Updates – There are new ways of interacting with your Facebook photos. Now you can now easily add photo tags to a photo you’re uploading within the Facebook application. Plus if you like that photo or funny picture your friend just shared on Facebook, you now have the ability save Facebook photos locally on your BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
• Events – This improvement is designed to make it even easier to plan and keep track of your events. You can now view and respond to events, invite your friends to attend, create and view posts on the event wall, post photos, and even tag guests.
• Sharing – Sharing information is at the core of BlackBerry 10 and now it easier than ever to share what matters to you with all of your contacts. Using the BlackBerry 10 share framework, you can now easily share links from your Facebook newsfeed to BBM, email, SMS, Facebook Twitter, and others.

Here are the new features for the second Twitter update:

• Your Connect Tab – View all interactions in one place, including new follows, favorites and mentions.
• Enjoy More Content – Take a look at photos, article summaries and other updates within your Tweets.
• Added Perspective – See the number of times a Tweet has been favorited.

BlackBerry will have to keep these updates coming in steadily if it’s going to grab third place in the mobile space. It’s extra work, but in addition to roping in third-party developers, the Canadian company has to ensure it keeps building its own apps as well, even for other companies’ services.

See also – Review: With its US launch, can the Z10 save BlackBerry from itself? and BlackBerry World catalog now boasts 100,000 BlackBerry 10 apps; 30,000 added in last 7 weeks

Top Image credit: Abdulaziz Almansour