Instant Messenger Personalities

It is interesting to have a look through your list of instant messenger contacts now and again. If you are anything like me, you will have collected a lot of contacts and will only talk regularly to a handful. I use MSN messenger, mainly due to everyone else using it although I still remember the days of ICQ with fondness.

I have come to the conclusion that there are a number of common personalities:

Hippy Chick – Always has a tagline that preaches goodness and happiness. e.g. “The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more”.

Billy – This person clearly has no friends or life and is trying to say the opposite via the wonders of online anonyminity. Usually has a name or tagline like “New Car, Job OFFERS flooding, new 19″ TFT”.

Talk To Me – Will have a name or tagline that gives you an opportunity to ask a question. e.g. “Southport here I come…”

Link Whore – “Check out WWW.WEBSITEWITHNOCONTENT.CO.UK”

Noob – Has no nickname, tagline or online identity at all. Takes way too long to type and always uses correct punctuation and grammar.

Emo – Always got something to moan about, hates the world and will tell everyone via the name or tagline. e.g. “going bak 2 finished ma degree / fuck the drought u can have it back”

Wiseman – Displays a profound latin phrase or inspirational passage in name or tagline. Usually copied with no understanding of what it really is. e.g. “Life is a pure flame, and we live by an invisible sun within us.”

Quoter – A new day, a new quote usually from a song, book or film. e.g. “Eat that, galanos. And make a dream you’ve killed a man.”

Excitable – Always “LOL” ‘ing, smiling and full of unnecesary punctuation (Hiya!!!!!).

Trend Setter – Looking to do something new and set the trend amongst the online instant messenger community. E.g. Building their name out of obscure characters.

The general rule of thumb is that anyone online will have a different personality than in the “real world”. Why is this? That is a future article…