Patent ID: 7743099

Claim:
A method for managing visibility of a particular user in a messaging environment, comprising: associating a first visibility profile, of the particular user, with a first situation; wherein the first visibility profile indicates a first particular set of users; associating a second visibility profile, of the particular user, with a second situation that is different than the first situation; wherein the second visibility profile indicates a second particular set of users; while the first visibility profile and the second visibility profile remain stored: when the particular user is in the first situation, determining, based on the first visibility profile and not on the second visibility profile, a first set of one or more users that are allowed to view the particular user as available to communicate; when the particular user is in the second situation, determining, based on the second visibility profile and not on the first visibility profile, a second set of one or more users that are allowed to view the particular user as available to communicate; wherein the first set of users is different than the second set of users; wherein: the first particular set of users is the same as the first set of one or more users and the second particular set of users is the same as the second set of one or more users, or none of the users in the first particular set of users is the same as any of the users in the first set of one or more users and none of the users in the second particular set of users is the same as any of the users in the second set of one or more users; and storing, by at least one hardware processing unit, the first and second visibility profiles in a volatile or non-volatile non-transitory storage media.