One of the premiere features touted by RIM in the new BlackBerry 6 OS is the Social Feeds application. It represents a major evolution in RIM's approach to the BlackBerry. It confirms their commitment to considering the average consumer in the design and marketing of their devices, rather than catering to business and corporate needs. But is the Social Feeds application itself is a step forward for RIM, or is its functionality redundant?
Integration
In OS 5, users could already choose to integrate their Twitter and Facebook notifications into their mailbox. Even though all of the notifications did not always deliver the full message, they still prompted you to open the individual applications to see your updates. While a lot of people embraced this functionality, many found that it added unnecessary clutter to their mailboxes.
In BlackBerry 6, RIM continues to offer the ability to see Twitter and Facebook updates in your mailbox, but also introduced the Social Feeds application, which aggregates your updates from Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds, BlackBerry Messenger, and Google Talk. While it is nice to see all of your notifications from these applications in one place, it is still easier to open the Twitter app when the notification icon appears than it is to open the Social Feeds app, choose the Twitter filter, and try to find what was directed to you. Clicking on any Tweet automatically launches the Twitter interface, so it would take less time to go directly to Twitter. Facebook interacts with Social Feeds the same way.
Aggregation
If you are using Social Feeds to the fullest by aggregating Twitter and Facebook notifications along with RSS feeds and instant messenger notifications, it does give you an excellent overview of everything that is going on. If you are only using one or two applications, it would still be easier to open up the individual applications. Perhaps the most useful feature in Social Feeds is the ability to post to multiple services at the same time.
For individuals who prefer to not have our mailboxes cluttered with things other than mail, Social Feeds helps to keep your mailbox manageable. If you are bombarded with Tweets, Facebook notifications, and instant messages, Social Feeds can actually slow you down by adding an additional hurdle between you and your messages. People who have been using RIM's Twitter and Facebook applications for a while may not see any value in Social Feeds, but new BlackBerry users may embrace it.