Match.com, one of the top dating sites, released Match.com Messenger in July, allowing subscribers to reach potential mates instantly when they are online. Kathleen Roldan, director of dating at Match.com, said that one of pluses of the service is that it maintains people's anonymity. "One unique feature is the ability to see the member's anonymous Match.com username and photo (if a photo is available) with basic member profile information right in the conversation window," Roldan said. This summer, Yahoo! gussied up IM for Personals subscribers. One new feature, for example, called "IM a Friend" lets people forward personal ads, along with a picture, to friends for advice. People can also add their photo and a snapshot of their personals ad within the chat window when talking with a potential mate. Yahoo! lets Personals subscribers archive messages, so that people can keep track of their conversations, as well as use its popular smiley graphics -- features it says sets it apart from rival IM services. Yahoo!'s Lazear said that IM was integrated into Personals in late 2000; but the company has seen subscribers quickly warm to the technology as it's caught on. On the downside, the tool can be much more intrusive than email because IM windows appear spontaneously on a person's computer. For this reason, many people are already discriminating when it comes to revealing their IM name for personal or work use, let alone for online dating. For Yahoo! users, handing out a regular IM handle could be potentially more troublesome than using a pseudonym if a meeting does not go well and the person attempts repeated contact. Accordingly, Yahoo! encourages Personals subscribers to create an alternate account for IM use. Sites like Match.com give subscribers an anonymous IM name that mirrors their online name. One woman living in Palo Alto, California, said that IM helps provide a quick snapshot of a person, if they're a fast typist, that is. "You get to see how people think and act instantaneously where you don't in email," said the 40-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous. "But I'm a fast typist; if I wasn't, I'd hate it." She added that IM can get cloying too. "After an hour on this thing it's crazy, and you have to ask, Why aren't we talking on the phone?"
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Im 15 and my AIM screen name is GT LIL Show 2003 so IM me sometime.