Patent ID: 7096255

Claim:
A system for providing temporary contacts in a messaging environment comprising: an electronic chat database system for maintaining at least one roster list of contacts for at least one user, the contacts corresponding to entities that the at least one user is capable of communicating with via an electronic chat client; wherein the at least one roster list includes at least one temporary contact and at least one permanent contact; a service manager operable to access the at least one roster lists list maintained in the electronic chat database system, the service manager configured to request the electronic chat database system to add a new contact to the at least one roster list of the at least one user so that the at least one user is able to communicate with an entity associated with the newly added contact, the service manager further operable to request the electronic chat database system to designate the new contact as a temporary contact, the temporary contact being assigned an expiration period as the temporary contact is added to the at least one roster list and the at least one permanent contact not having an expiration period, wherein; prior to a scheduled removal of the temporary contact from the at least one roster list, the service manager is operable to provide the at least one user with an option to convert the temporary contact having the expiration period to a permanent contact not having an expiration period; and after the expiration period expires, the service manager is operable to request the temporary contact to be removed by the electronic chat database system, the service manager being further configured to update the at least one user as to a current network statuses of the contacts contained on the at least one roster list of the at least one user so that the at least one user is made aware, via the electronic chat client, of which contacts are currently available for communicating with the at least one user.