Patent ID: 8015497

Claim:
A system of real-time, or near-real-time, communication in a network environment, said system comprising: at least one processor; a tangible computer memory coupled to the at least one processor; and program instructions stored in the tangible computer memory for execution by the at least one processor, the program instructions comprising: first program instructions to receive, during an instant messaging session of an instant messaging application having a plurality of participants in the instant messaging session, a signal for sending an instant message in a side conversation to at least one participant in the plurality of participants; second program instructions to send a first message portion, in a side conversation, in response to the signal for sending, wherein said first message portion is a new message portion that has not been part of the messaging session, and wherein said first message portion is not revealed to at least one other participant in the plurality of participants; third program instructions to display a clue about said first message portion to the at least one other participant in the plurality of participants to which the first message portion is not revealed, in a textual representation of the instant messaging session on a computing device associated with the at least one participant; fourth program instructions to generate, for each of the participants in the plurality of participants, a transcript of the instant messaging session, wherein a transcript for the at least one other participant to which the first message portion is not revealed is a redacted transcript that does not include the side conversation in the redacted transcript; fifth program instructions to store, in a central server, a common transcript of the instant messaging session that includes the side conversation, wherein the clue comprises an identification of a participant in the side conversation, wherein the first message portion is sent to the at least one participant in the plurality of participants as a folded message in which a content of the folded message is not revealed to one or more participants in the plurality of participants, and wherein the first message portion is sent to one of a participant in the plurality of participants as an unfolded message; sixth program instructions to receive specifications of access limits, wherein the access limits specify operations that each participant in the plurality of participants may perform with regard to the side conversation, and wherein at least two participants in the plurality of participants have access limits that permit the at least two participants to view the side conversation but one of the at least two participants has access rights that limit other operations that may be performed by the participant with regard to the side conversation; and seventh program instructions to set access limits, in said side conversation.