The official Twitter® for BlackBerry® application is going into public beta tonight. At 9 p.m. EST BlackBerry users will be able to download the official Twitter app and give it a try.

New Features:

• When an @reply/mention is received, the user will be notified with a splat on the BlackBerry home screen ribbon as well as the application icon


• Users will also be notified of new tweets in the BlackBerry Messages list

Twitter Lists Functionality

• Comprehensive option to build a list of Twitter users on any subject


• Ability to add members to the list and view subscribers of the lists


• Users can also view other users’ lists

Profile Editing

• Users can edit their own Twitter profile from the application


• Users can also change their profile image from the application

Personalization Settings

• Users can customize the look of the application with the ability to:


• Show/hide the navigation bar and tweetbox


• Change the font/style to their own preferred choice

Enlarged Avatar (Profile Picture) Viewing

• Users can click on a Twitter profile image and it will be enlarged for better viewing abilities

Improved in-Application Caching/Polling

• Increased on-device caching for Timeline; Mentions to improve application performance

These new features build on Twitter for BlackBerry’s strengths at its original preview launch:

• Push Notifications for Direct Messages


• Timeline Support


• Following & Followers


• Posting, Sending, Deleting, Replying and Re-Tweeting Tweets


• User/Saved/Keyword/Proximity Search


• Tweet Photos/Links


• Trending Topics


• Seamless integration into core BlackBerry Applications


• URL Shortening


• Auto Update