Patent ID: 8140619

Claim:
A method for managing a buddy list for interactive teleconferencing, the method comprising: detecting a propagation event; and in response to detecting the propagation event, propagating a buddy list update from a first Instant Messaging (IM) client on a first computer to at least one second IM client on a second computer; wherein the interactive teleconferencing is Instant Messaging (IM); and wherein the first computer and the at least one second computer are coupled by an Instant Messaging (IM) server, the method further comprising: storing, in the IM server, historical data that describes the propagation of the buddy list update from the first IM client on the first computer to the at least one second IM client on the second computer, wherein the historical data comprises a record for the propagated buddy list update to indicate a second buddy list associated with the second IM client having been populated by an entire first buddy list associated with the first IM client.