What Does BBM Mean?

The acronym BBM has been popping up more and more lately in text-speak and Internet lingo, but what does BBM mean? The word can have a few meanings, but 90% of the time that people use the term, they are referring to one specific technological item. Read on.

What Does BBM Mean: Incorrect possibilities
Google searches for "What does BBM mean?" return lots of different answers, many of which are not the common meaning. Incorrect interpretations of the term BBM include Bureau of Broadcast Measurement or Bulk Business Mail. More rarely, BBM can be used to mean "big, beautiful man," in the same way that BBW stands for "big, beautiful woman."

However, none of these usages are the most common meaning for BBM. The majority of the time that people use the acronym, they mean something else.

What Does BBM Mean: The correct answer
BBM in common text slang usage usually stands for the Blackberry Messenger, the messaging service used on BlackBerry communications devices. If you ask someone to "BBM me," you are requesting that they send you a message on the BlackBerry Messenger.

Similar to Yahoo Instant Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger, BlackBerry Messenger allows people to send text comments back and forth between each other. BBM users can exchange messages of unlimited length and can also transfer photos, images and videos with one or several people at once.

The BlackBerry is sometimes viewed as a status symbol since the devices tend to be more expensive than basic cell phones. Telling someone to "BBM me," then, can be seen as being more prestigious than "text me" or "call me."

Songs about the BBM
The term BBM has been in the spotlight recently thanks to hip hop songs that reference the messenger. One recent such example is "Hit Me Up on the BBM" by Breeze and SP.

Another example is "BBM" by Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston featuring rapper Soulja Boy. In the song, Kingston sings that he's tired of texting and needs a new way to communicate. He ultimately decides the BBM is the way to go. The song also features soul vocalist Teairra Mari, who sings the chorus and provides vocal interplay with Kingston. Kingston's BBM song is likely to become the bigger hit, since he is a bigger star (his duet with Justin Bieber, "Eenie Meenie," was a top 20 hit earlier this year.)

What Does BBM Mean: Sources
http://us.blackberry.com/blackberrymessenger/features.html