BBM now has 45m active users with 2m more joining every month

RIM reveals the latest stats for its messaging service, as Foursquare claims 30% of its own usage comes from BlackBerry.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service now has 45 million active users around the world, according to stats shared by RIM at its BBM Hackathon in New York.

BerryReview reports that RIM also revealed that two million new users join the service every month, and that more than 5.2 million BBM groups have been created. 70% of users are using BBM every day to communicate with friends, resulting in billions of daily messages.

BBM has been the subject of much attention in the UK this week, thanks to media coverage and politicians' comments on its use by some of the rioters in London and elsewhere in the UK. Prime Minister David Cameron has even floated the prospect of restricting access to BBM and other social services during such events.

Also appearing at the Hackathon was social location service Foursquare, which revealed some BlackBerry stats of its own. BerryReview reports that the company announced that 30% of overall Foursquare usage comes from BlackBerry users, and that their active usage is higher than any other smartphone.

What's more, he claimed that integrating BBM into the latest version of Foursquare's BlackBerry app has resulted in the app outstripping the iPhone and Android versions in terms of adding new users to the service.