Personalized away messages

1. A method for providing customized away messages to buddies of an instant messaging program user who try to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program while the user is away, wherein buddies of the user are grouped into buddy groups, the method comprising:

providing an interface that displays representations of the buddies in a manner that identifies one or more buddy groups and the membership of buddies within one or more of those buddy groups;

permitting the user to select a buddy group using the interface;

permitting the user to set a group away message for the selected buddy group, wherein the set group away message is sent to buddies grouped into the selected buddy group that attempt to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program when the user is away;

permitting the user to select one of the buddies that belongs to the buddy group for which the group away message is set; and

permitting the user to set a personal away message for the selected buddy, wherein the personal away message is sent to the selected buddy when the selected buddy attempts to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program when the user is away,

wherein setting a personal away message comprises appending an additional message on to the group away message.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising permitting the user to set a global away message, wherein the global away message is sent to buddies which belong to buddy groups for which no group away message has been set and for which no personal away message has been set.

3. A method for providing customized away messages to buddies of an instant messaging program user who try to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program while the user is away, the method comprising:

providing an interface that displays a representation of at least one buddy group and a representation of at least one buddy included in the buddy group, wherein the representation of the buddy group and the representation of the buddy are displayed in a manner that indicates the buddy is included in the buddy group;

permitting the user to set a global away message using the interface;

permitting the user to set a group away message for the buddy group using the interface;

permitting the user to set a personal away message for the buddy using the interface; and

in response to the buddy attempting to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program when the user is away:

sending the personal away message to the buddy if the user has set the personal away message;

sending the group away message to the buddy if the user has set the group away message; and

sending the global away message to the buddy if the user has set the global away message.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein setting a personal away message comprises appending an additional message on to the group away message.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein setting a personal away message comprises replacing the group away message with a new message.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein setting a group away message comprises appending an additional message on to the global away message.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein setting a group away message comprises replacing the global away message with a new message.

8. An instant messaging program, embodied on a computer-usable storage medium, that allows a user to set customized away messages to be sent to buddies of the user who try to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program while the user is away, wherein buddies of the user are grouped into buddy groups, the program comprising:

a first interface element that displays representations of the buddies in a manner that identifies one or more buddy groups and the membership of buddies within one or more of those buddy groups;

a second interface element that allows the user to enter a message; and

a third interface element that allows a customized away message to be set for a buddy by appending an additional message on to a customized away message set for the buddy group that includes the buddy,

wherein the first and second interface elements enable the user to set customized away messages on a per-buddy group basis and enable the user to set customized away messages on a per-buddy basis.

9. A computer-usable storage medium having a computer program embodied thereon for providing customized away messages to buddies of an instant messaging program user who try to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program while the user is away, wherein buddies of the user are grouped into buddy groups, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

provide an interface that displays representations of the buddies in a manner that identifies one or more buddy groups and the membership of buddies within one or more of those buddy groups;

permit the user to select a buddy group using the interface;

permit the user to set a group away message for the selected buddy group, wherein the set group away message is sent to buddies grouped into the selected buddy group that attempt to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program when the user is away;

permit the user to select one of the buddies that belongs to the buddy group for which the group away message is set; and

permit the user to set a personal away message for the selected buddy, wherein the personal away message is sent to the selected buddy when the selected buddy attempts to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program when the user is away,

wherein, to set a personal away message, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing the computer to append an additional message on to the group away message.

10. The computer-usable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the computer program further comprises instructions for causing a computer to permit the user to set a global away message, wherein the global away message is sent to buddies which belong to buddy groups for which no group away message has been set and for which no personal away message has been set.

11. A method for providing customized away messages to buddies of an instant messaging program user who try to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program while the user is away, wherein buddies of the user are grouped into buddy groups, the method comprising:

providing an interface that displays representations of the buddies in a manner that identifies one or more buddy groups and the membership of buddies within one or more of those buddy groups;

permitting the user to select a buddy group using the interface;

permitting the user to set a group away message for the selected buddy group, wherein the set group away message is sent to buddies grouped into the selected buddy group that attempt to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program when the user is away; and

permitting the user to set a global away message, wherein the global away message is sent to buddies which belong to groups for which a group away message has not been set,

wherein setting a group away message comprises appending an additional message on to the global away message.

12. An instant messaging program, embodied on a computer-usable storage medium, that allows a user to set customized away messages to be sent to buddies of the user who try to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program while the user is away, wherein buddies of the user are grouped into buddy groups, the program comprising:

a first interface element that displays representations of the buddies in a manner that identifies one or more buddy groups and the membership of buddies within one or more of those buddy groups;

a second interface element that allows the user to enter a message; and

a third interface element that allows a customized away message to be set for a buddy group by appending an additional message on to a global away message,

wherein the first and second interface elements enable the user to set customized away messages on a per-buddy group basis and enable the user to set a global away message to be sent to buddies.

13. A computer-usable storage medium having a computer program embodied thereon for providing customized away messages to buddies of an instant messaging program user who try to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program while the user is away, wherein buddies of the user are grouped into buddy groups, the computer program comprising instructions for causing a computer to:

provide an interface that displays representations of the buddies in a manner that identifies one or more buddy groups and the membership of buddies within one or more of those buddy groups;

permit the user to select a buddy group using the interface;

permit the user to set a group away message for the selected buddy group, wherein the set group away message is sent to buddies grouped into the selected buddy group that attempt to communicate with the user through the instant messaging program when the user is away; and

permit the user to set a global away message, wherein the global away message is sent to buddies which belong to groups for which a group away message has not been set,

wherein, to set a group away message, the computer program further comprises instructions for causing the computer to append an additional message on to the global away message.