Facebook launches Blackberry service

Facebook launched a new version of its social networking service, specifically for BlackBerry smartphones, at the Wireless IT & Entertainment trade show in San Francisco.

The company also announced two new mobile extensions for Facebook Platform, its application programming interface which allows third-party developers to build their own apps for the service.

The development means that users can now load third-party applications from a mobile phone.

Third-party applications can also now send and receive SMS text messages between Facebooker profiles.

Although Facebook can already be accessed on a browser-equipped mobile via an xhtml site, the company’s new tool allows BlackBerry users to access the service from a tool that runs on their handheld.

The BlackBerry application allows users to track and update their Facebook profile. Photos can already be emailed or shared via MMS, but the new application allows them to be sent to a Facebook account.

Captions and tags can be added to photos as they are sent, using the BlackBerry keyboard.