Patent ID: 8799758

Claim:
A method of providing a rich media icon for enhancing user interaction with a messaging program comprising the steps of: providing, by a processor, access to a selection of user selectable rich media icons through a messaging program interface which may be used to create a message containing a user selected rich media icon, said rich media icon comprises user perceptible content and content specific information, the user perceptible content associated with content selected from a group of content types consisting of one or more products and one or more services and the content specific information related to the user perceptible content; and providing computer code to allow communication between the rich media icon and the messaging program so that the messaging program and said rich media icon can inter-operate, and so that when said message is communicated to an intended recipient via the messaging program, said message is communicated with said rich media icon to said intended recipient so as to enable perception of said content and access to said rich media icon by said intended recipient so that said intended recipient can interact with said rich media icon and utilize said content specific information, said content specific information displaying a rich media caption when a cursor is positioned over said rich media icon, said rich media caption comprising a description of the user perceptible content, providing computer code to allow a user to disable said rich media icons in the messaging program, and when the messaging program receives an indication to display a rich media icon, the messaging program displays the rich media caption in place of the rich media icon.