I wanted to present something different and informative for our readers. I know there’s the BlackBerry Lounge which not many of us frequent, but there are also communities available for you to join that are exclusive to the BlackBerry Members. While Facebook does have a Pin Exchange, it is still a part of Facebook. Many of us enjoy networking and it’s evident in the success of Facebook and MySpace, and yes, even Twitter. Some individuals are leery of social networks as they hear the dark and sinister side to them thanks to the media. Many of us do not realize what resources are out there once we do get our first BlackBerry, and it’s important to know. So I’m going to do a short series highlighting one social community at a time. This is not advertising, but bringing awareness to our BlackBerry users. I have two that I would compare to Facebook in popularity and respect for one another, and were designed to bring friends together with one thing in common…our love for our BlackBerry and being members of the BlackBerry Nation. They are not dark websites, they are a place to connect, to find new friends, and to even find resources. My first online community I am going to highlight is the BlackBerry Avenue.
BlackBerry Avenue is the result of the brainstorming of Luigi Raw and Nathan Hanna. Luigi said he got his first BlackBerry in 2007, and began looking for BlackBerry communities. He found Facebook somewhat limited at the time as it could only be used on the desktop. He then got together with Nathan Hanna to create a BlackBerry community site unlike any other. The goal was to have a site viewable either by desktop or mobile viewing. February 24, 2008 the online beta version was born. There were three hundred members by the second week. They have done updates, and even added the ability to post and share files of up to 1GB each.
The site now receives over a thousand hits a day, with 20 to 30 new registrations a day. They are currently at over 1000 members, and with a pending launch of an all new BlackBerry Ave site, they are hoping to see it grow even more. One thing that makes this site differ from most others is that there is no financial backing, it is not a company, it is solely two men with inspiration and a goal, and one is to have a site that carries the same features for both mobile and on the desktop. They are hoping to even add integration to Twitter and hopefully Facebook as well.
They are currently looking for active volunteers to write application reviews as they are hoping to launch an applications section, theme developers as they have their theme section is under development, and anyone who would like to actively participate in bringing the site ability to be all it can be and then some. They are hoping for an even bigger year. If you have been looking for an opportunity like this and are interested in helping out, you can contact them from the BlackBerry Ave website.
I know we all like having a social online life, and Luigi did inform me that there would be a launch app for them in the near future for our BlackBerry phones. Their new site will be launching officially July 1, 2009! For your curiosity, you can check out BlackBerry Avenue and see what you think. I know there are more people learning how much a BlackBerry can enrich your life and how good it feels to meet other people who can relate to you.
If you belong to this community or any other BlackBerry communities, please leave us a comment as to what you think so far.
![Picture1[1]](http://blackberrysync.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Picture11.jpg "Picture1[1]")
