BBMTHE PIN · NIA-03

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Specimen2010–2016

To operateYou have been issued a PIN. Add a contact, fire a broadcast, and PING someone.

2010–2016

Consumer BBM shut down 2019.

Eight characters that decided whether you existed.

BlackBerry Messenger identified you by an eight-character PIN rather than a phone number, which turned the PIN itself into currency. Nigeria and Indonesia kept BBM alive years after the rest of the world had moved on. Asking for a PIN was the entire opening move of a generation's social life.

On the record

  • The BBM PIN was an eight-character hexadecimal code unique to the device, not the person.
  • Messages showed D for delivered and R for read — the origin of being visibly ignored.
  • Broadcast Message sent one text to every contact at once; most were chain prayers or sales.
  • Nigeria and Indonesia were BBM's last strongholds; the consumer service closed in 2019.

What people said

Send me your pinPing!!!BroadcastDPRecharge and ping me

The Nigerian Internet ArchiveNIA-03