System and method for converting an email thread to an instant message group

1. A method for initiating an instant messaging chat session from an email thread including at least one email, the method comprising:

receiving an email thread including at least one email;

extracting a plurality of user identifiers from the at least one email;

obtaining presence information associated with each user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

ordering the plurality of user identifiers based on the presence information associated with each user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

causing display of the ordered plurality of user identifiers together with an indication of the presence information associated with each user identifier;

evaluating criteria to determine whether to display a user control associated with an instant messaging capability, wherein the criteria includes the presence information associated with at least one user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

in response to a selection of the user control, extracting a plurality of parameters from the email thread;

generating a deep link including the extracted plurality of parameters; and

initiating a session of an instant messaging application based on the extracted plurality of parameters included in the deep link with at least one user associated with the at least one user identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing the user control to be disabled based on the presence information associated with at least one user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the criteria includes at least one of an email reply frequency, a number of user identifiers associated with the email thread, or a topic derived from contents of the at least one email.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the presence information associated with at least one user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers is for user identifiers obtained from a “To:” field of the at least one email.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracted plurality of parameters includes a subject extracted from the at least one email, and the session of the instant messaging application associates the subject with a session group name.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the presence information is displayed such that user identifiers associated with an available type of presence are displayed before user identifiers associated with an unavailable type of presence.

7. A system for initiating an instant messaging chat session from an email thread including at least one email, the system comprising:

a processor; and

memory including instructions which when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive an email thread including at least one email message;

cause display of a user control associated with an instant messaging capability;

in response to a selection of the user control:

extract a plurality of parameters from the email thread;

generate a deep link including the plurality of extracted parameters; and

initiate a session of an instant messaging application based on the plurality of extracted parameters included in the deep link, wherein at least one parameter of the plurality of extracted parameters includes a subject parameter extracted from the email thread, and a session group name of the initiated session of the instant messaging application includes the subject parameter.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the user control to be disabled based on presence information associated with at least one user identifier extracted from the at least one email thread.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein presence information associated with the at least one user identifier is for a user identifier obtained from a “To:” field of the at least one email message.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the process to:

extract a plurality of user identifiers from the email message thread;

obtain presence information associated with each user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

order the plurality of user identifiers based on the presence information associated with each user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

cause a display of the ordered plurality of user identifiers together with an indication of the presence information associated with each user identifier; and

evaluate criteria to determine whether to display the user control associated with the instant messaging capability, wherein the criteria includes the presence information associated with at least one user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to display the user control associated with the instant messaging capability when the presence information associated with the at least one user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers displays an active indication.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the criteria to determine whether to display the user control associated with the instant messaging capability includes at least one of an email reply frequency, a number of user identifiers associated with the email thread, or a topic derived from contents of the at least one email.

13. The system of claim 7 , wherein presence information is caused to be displayed such that user identifiers associated with an available type of presence are displayed before user identifiers associated with an unavailable type of presence.

14. A computer storage media including instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive an email thread including at least one email;

extract a plurality of user identifiers from the at least one email;

obtain presence information associated with each user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

order the plurality of user identifiers based on the presence information associated with each user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

cause display of the ordered plurality of user identifiers together with an indication of the presence information associated with each user identifier;

evaluate criteria to determine whether to display a user control associated with an instant messaging capability, wherein the criteria includes the presence information associated with at least one user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers;

in response to a selection of the user control, extracting a plurality of parameters from the email thread;

generating a deep link including the extracted plurality of parameters; and

initiating a session of an instant messaging application based on the extracted plurality of parameters included in the deep link with at least one user associated with the at least one user identifier.

15. The computer storage media of claim 14 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the user control to be disabled based on the presence information associated with at least one user identifier of the plurality of user identifiers.

16. The computer storage media of claim 15 , wherein the criteria includes at least one of an email reply frequency, a number of user identifiers associated with the email thread, or a topic derived from contents of the at least one email.

17. The computer storage media of claim 14 , wherein the extracted plurality of parameters includes a subject extracted from the at least one email, and the session of the instant messaging application associates the subject with a session group name.

18. The computer storage media of claim 14 , wherein the presence information is displayed such that user identifiers associated with an available type of presence are displayed before user identifiers associated with an unavailable type of presence.

19. The computer storage media of claim 14 , wherein the extracted plurality of parameters includes a subject extracted from the at least one email, and the session of the instant messaging application associates the subject with a session group name.