BlackBerry Messenger Access Habit - Survey Report

BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) maybe a pioneer in the instant messenger apps installed on the mobile device. Before Android OS gain its popularity in recent decade, BlackBerry popularizes the mobile data based chatting application among smartphone user. However, BBM seems to face a rough challenge from other new comer instant messenger app such as WhatsApp and LINE. We conduct a survey to understand the way BBM user reflect their BBM access habit.

We conduct a survey by asking 999 respondents in nationwide about their BBM usage experience. The sampling composition is carefully measured by considering the population of Indonesia internet user. Furthermore, to precisely select the right composition of our respondent, we also use Jakpat proportional sampling feature.

The highlight of this survey result is mostly focused on the unbalance finding between the number of BBM user and their access frequency. Although the number of BBM user is quite high, but their access frequency does not. In an extreme way, some respondents only rarely use BBM to communicate. In other hand, we also find that there is less than half of respondents in this survey use BBM in high frequency a day.

First of all, we filter our respondent by asking whether they have any BBM account. According to our result, 83% respondents in this survey own BBM account.

We further examine the usage frequency among respondents who own BBM account. Apparently, 20% respondents who own BBM account in this survey have BBM, but rarely use it for their daily communication channel. In the extremely opposite side, 36% respondents who own BBM account in this survey seems to use BBM as their frequently used daily communication channel.

Unlike other instant messenger apps such as LINE and WhatsApp, BBM is more likely to be used to talk with family. Besides that, BBM seems to be a comfortable communication channel to talk with respondents’ friends.

Respondents’ belonging into certain BBM group also becomes a part of our investigation in this survey. Apparently, 71% respondents who own BBM account in this survey join BBM group. However, most of them only belong in 1-2 groups only.

Regarding the type of BBM group joined by respondents in this survey, most of them belong in friend based group. To make it more interesting, apparently online shop BBM group seems to be more attractive for most respondents in this survey compared to family BBM group.

Comparing the interest of female and male respondents in this survey to join in particular BBM group, the female respondents seems to be more willing to join online shop BBM group than male.

The shared content on BBM is quite various. Quite similar with other instant messenger apps, most respondents in this survey like to share funny picture, copy paste broadcast information, and post document/file on BBM.

Just like other instant messenger apps, BBM also provide many features beyond just text messaging. According to our finding, most respondents are doing several activities other than text messaging on BBM.

Apparently, other BBM features such as BBM voucher, BBM travel, and BBM news are not yet popular enough. Among respondents in this survey, only less than 10% of them usually access it.

As we know, there are two ways to add friend contact on BBM. Between both ways, adding friends’ BBM PIN code seems to be more popular for respondent.

Changing profile picture seems to be less popular among most respondents in this survey. It is shown by 66% respondents who own BBM account in this survey rarely change their BBM profile picture.

Regarding the befriending habit, most respondents in this survey only accept BBM contact invitation from people they know. In other hand, there are fewer of them who accept BBM contact from stranger.

The sponsored content on BBM also gains a lack of interest among most respondents in this survey. Only 31% of respondents who own BBM account in this survey accept contact invitation from them.

The willingness to access advertisement from sponsored content on BBM is also low. Only 23% respondents who own BBM account in this survey ever access advertisement from sponsored content.

As BBM PIN code seems to be the most common way to befriending on BBM, we ask our respondent about their ability to remember their own PIN code. Interestingly, most respondents in this survey do not remember their own BBM PIN code.

BBM premium account does not seem to be able to attract respondents’ interest as well. Among all respondents who own BBM account in this survey, only 19% of them upgrade their account to premium.

We further compare the excellence of BBM compared to other instant messenger apps. Apparently, most respondents who own BBM account in this survey are impressed with BBM speed of sending message.

Furthermore, the expected service between the teenage and older segment of BBM user in this survey is different. The teenage segment expects BBM to offer them a more interesting timeline feature. Up to this point, the teenage segment may need instant messenger platforms that enable them not only to communicate, but also expressing whatever in their minds.

At last, we ask 17% respondents who do not own BBM in this survey. We ask about their reason of not using BBM. Apparently, our premise about the rough challenge between BBM and other messenger apps is true. Half of them say that the ultimate reason of their behavior is because they already use other instant messenger apps.

For more detail you can download XLS report at the button below (Bahasa Indonesia). JAKPAT report consists of 3 parts which are 1) Respondent Profile, 2) Crosstabulation for each question and 3) Raw Data. Respondent profile shows you demographic profiles ( gender,age range, location by province, and monthly spending). Cross tabulation enables you to define different demographic segment preference on each answer.