Patent ID: 8516049

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of administering instant messaging (‘IM’) chat sessions, the method comprising: identifying, by an IM applicant module in dependence upon a merger policy, a plurality of IM participants to merge into a group IM chat session, the IM applicant module providing IM services to one of the participants, the merger policy comprising a set of rules governing the merger of participants into a group IM chat session, where the merger policy comprises identifications of prospective participants never to be included in a recommendation for merger, where identifying a plurality of IM participants to merge into a group IM chat session includes identifying, based on IM communication content of an IM chat session, as one of the plurality of IM participants to merge into the group IM chat session, a participant that is not in the IM chat session, the IM communication content including an identification of the participant; and merging, by the IM applicant module without consulting the participants, the identified participants into the group IM chat session.