With more than 76 percent of Americans 13 years and over using an instant messenger application, according to America Online, Inc., buddy icons offer a way to individualize online communication.
So many people use instant messenger
said Ohio University senior Joseph DeMatteo, who uses I-Chat, a Macintosh instant messenger service. It's a unique thing each person can have.
According to a 2003 AOL survey, conducted in partnership with Opinion Research Corporation, 85 percent of instant messengers use buddy icons.
DeMatteo said he downloaded an orange Pac-Man ghost buddy icon.
In the summer of 2003, AOL spruced up buddy icons by offering SuperBuddy icons -3-D images that react to 70 of the most common chat phrases using 25 different animations.
Freshman Rachel Morris has Anthony Ant, a SuperBuddy icon that laughs when she types LOL the text speak that means laugh out loud. It even puts on sunglasses if she types cool she said.
Morris said all her friends ask why her icon is talking. She has not come across any other people with a SuperBuddy icon.
Late last year, AOL made the icons accessible to 36 million more instant messenger users by releasing the icons to the free AOL Instant Messenger service. SuperBuddy icons previously were available only to AOL members, said Krista Thomas, AOL corporate communications spokesperson.
Some of the icons are promotional, such as M&M's, and some are tied in with popular themes, such as holiday icons, she said.
According to the AOL survey, 93 percent of 13-to 17-year-olds use instant messaging. This number has probably increased since the survey, Thomas said.
While it does not cater to a certain age group, AOL realizes its popularity in teen audiences.
We do try to come up with SuperBuddy icons that are current
that are related to popular culture
she said.
Anyone can purchase SuperBuddy icons for $1.95 each or three for $4.95. Morris has one of the two icons free for AIM users.
I don't know if people are willing to pay for something like that
said Owen Prater, creator of iconator.com, a Web site with free buddy icons available to download.
Prater created http://www.iconator.com about one and a half years ago, and now more than 1 million people visit the site every month.
He attributes the popularity of the site to viral marketing
or word-of-mouth, he said.
People can request to have a personalized buddy icon made using their names, or they can choose from the variety of icons -many of which are highly animated -on the site.
The site began with about 1,000 buddy icons designed by Prater. Users have since designed almost 200,000, which they uploaded to the site.
Buddy icons are easy to make using a program, such as Photoshop, Prater said. It usually involves cropping a picture and possibly adding animation.
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Ellie Behling
