Xing review

Simon Bisson

We review Xing, an app that gives you easy access to the Xing Social Network on your BlackBerry

Published on Aug 19, 2009

There are myriad social networks out there, most of which, like Facebook and MySpace, are focused on, well, social relationships. Then there are those that cater for business relationships. The people we meet at meetings and conferences aren’t “friends” – they’re colleagues and contacts. That’s where services like LinkedIn and Xing come in, as they’re designed to help manage your business networks.

Like most complex websites, Xing’s doesn’t work well on a BlackBerry browser. That’s why there’s now a BlackBerry version that takes a leaf out of RIM’s book and integrates Xing into the BlackBerry user experience – just like the official FaceBook application.

Once you’ve installed it, you’ll find Xing messages appearing in your inbox alongside your email. You can make connections without leaving the Xing application, but you can’t act on any other messages. If you’ve been invited to join a group you’ll need to complete your connection on the website. That’s a major flaw, as it makes using Xing a somewhat less seamless experience than it could have been.

The profile view page is useful enough as it gives you an address book view of your contacts. You can use this to send messages through Xing, or use the BlackBerry messaging tools to send email messages. If a contact has shared phone numbers you can also call them without leaving Xing – saving time and keeping your networking contacts separate from your address book. Premium users get to use the Xing BlackBerry app to set status messages, adding them from the application’s front screen. You can see recent network activities here, as well as just who has looked at your profile in the last few days.

Xing’s BlackBerry application is a good idea, it’s just a pity that it doesn’t live up to its initial promise. RIM’s own Facebook tool has set the standard for social networking on the BlackBerry, and Xing just doesn’t quite match up. Part of the problem is Xing’s freemium model, where free users get an application that contains features they can’t use. It would have been a lot better if those features were invisible for all apart from premium users.

If you use Xing, and have a BlackBerry, then this is the tool for you. If you haven’t, it’s unlikely to make you switch to Xing from any other social networking service. Xing for BlackBerry is well crafted and well designed – it’s just not the compelling business tool it could have been.