Patent ID: 7353455

Claim:
A system for relaying presence information within a electronic chat environment, comprising: an electronic chat client configured to detect a network presence change of a user of the electronic chat client and in response to detection of the network presence change, to send at least one presence alert message to at least one contact included in a contact list of the user, the contact list utilized in electronic chat communications by the electronic chat client, wherein the at least one presence alert message is pre-customized by the user and the at least one contact is pre-selected by the user, the presence alert message also being expressly addressed to the at least one contact from the user, the at least one presence alert message being structured as a chat message having a tag that indicates to the electronic chat client to receive the chat message without initiating a chat session; and a database storing contact parameters, the contact parameters including settings defined by the user for sending presence alert messages to contacts on the contact list of the user, wherein the electronic chat client is further configured to receive presence alert messages from other users, the electronic chat client configured to present the user an option of responding to a received presence alert message after an audio file of the received presence alert message is played and wherein the electronic chat client is configured to play the audio file contained in the presence alert message without opening a chat window.