All of us have multiple personalities, especially in the online space. We have different personalities in different areas of our lives. Each of these personalities have different characteristics as well.

Microsoft plans to help you manage these multiple online personalities when it comes to Instant messaging.

A user will be able to name and save multiple different “personas” or “personalities,” which are basically groups of instant messaging self-expression settings such as, for example, Buddy Icons, Buddy Sounds, Buddy Wallpaper and Emoticons (e.g., Smileys). Then, depending on the identity with whom the user communicates, they can quickly access and adopt one of their personalities in an instant messaging environment, and may manage the online appearance they present to others.

For example, the persona projected to co-workers may be different from the persona projected to close friends.

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