Having launched its Channels social networking platform on BBM in November, BlackBerry has now gone public with the details of its beta trial of sponsored content.

In a bid to ‘set the record straight from the get go’, the company has revealed that it is now helping brands build their communities on the Channels area in the app by offering featured placements, sponsored invites and sponsored posts.

Featured placements give BBM brands the opportunity to highlight themselves on the Channels homepage, while sponsored posts appear in the Updates area along with alerts from contacts and brands already being followed. Users have the ability to block these updates and can filter their message inbox to only show news from contacts.

Brands will also be able to send sponsored invites to BBM users, targeting them using relevant demographic information like age, location and interests. If a user accepts the invites, which can be found in the same feed as their contact invitations, they are subscribed to that brand. If they decline, they will not see any further messaging. BlackBerry says they will be limited to three per month.

BlackBerry highlights that ‘privacy and control’ are two of the reasons people use BBM and are cleary keen to emphasise that the ads will be… great. Although users dont need to input any personal data when signing up to the service, if they use Channels, they at least have to give up their date of birth. For obvious reasons, the app also asks to access contacts and location.

This will not affect peoples individual BBM chats. The company is also trialling paid-for stickers for people to share with their friends in an attempt to monetise the app.