A status message is a function of some

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

applications whereby a user may post a message that appears automatically to other users if they attempt to make contact. A status message can tell other contacts the user's current status, such as being busy or what the user is currently doing. It is analogous to the voice message in an

answering machine An answering machine, answerphone, or message machine, also known as telephone messaging machine (or TAM) in the United Kingdom, UK and some Commonwealth countries, ansaphone or ansafone (from a trade name), or telephone answering device (TAD), ...

voice mail A voicemail system (also known as voice message or voice bank) is a computer-based system that allows callers to leave a Voice recording, recorded message when the recipient has been unable (or unwilling) to answer the Telephone, phone. Calls may ...

system. However, status messages may be displayed even if the person is present. They are often updated much more frequently than messages in answering machines, and thus may serve as a means of instant, limited "publication" or indirect communication. Generally, the available status is denoted by a green dot, while the busy status is denoted by a red dot on most of the instant messengers. Whereas answering machine or voice mail messages often have a generic greeting to leave a message, status messages more often contain a description of where the person is at the moment or what they are doing. Because most instant messaging clients indicate to users when their online contacts are away before they send a message, more often than not away messages are meant to be read in lieu of sending a message, rather than a response. Away messages are not to be confused with ''idle messages'', which is an automatic reply to a message when the messaging client has determined that the replier is not at his or her computer. In the

XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (abbreviation XMPP, originally named Jabber) is an Open standard, open communication protocol designed for instant messaging (IM), presence information, and contact list maintenance. Based on XML (Ext ...

protocol for instant messaging, the status of a user is signalled by an element called ''presence''. This provides a variety of functions, including the option to subscribe to the status so that the recipient is continuously updated with changes in status.

References

Internet culture Instant messaging {{tech-stub

See also

References