My Buddy Icon

Free buddy icons for AOL

More Information on Buddy Icons

buddy icon is a small image associated with an instant messaging (IM) account. AOL Instant Messenger was the first IM program to use buddy icons, but now several other popular IM programs do, including MSN Messenger, Trillian, GAIM and Yahoo! Messenger. Buddy icons for AOL Instant Messenger can be in GIF or JPEG formats. Maximum file size of buddy icon image is 8 kb while its dimensions are 48x48 pixels.

Buddy icons for Google Talk were added in April 2006, and are in BMP format.

Depending on the program, sometimes buddy icons are also referred to as avatars (Yahoo!) or display pictures (MSN).

Buddy icons have been used by entertainment companies, such as record labels or movie studios, as a form of word of mouth advertising. Buddy icons advertising the releases of films or albums are available through instant messaging software or company/band websites.

Buddy profiles are brief descriptions that each AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) user can write about himself or herself. They are derived from the original AOL Member Profiles, which allowed AOL users to list personal details such as age, sex, and location (a/s/l). Profiles can not be made using AIM Express. Buddy profiles allow multiple font-faces, font colors, and background colors to be used to create unique profiles. Buddy profiles suffer from several limitations; the two primary limitations are the space limitation (a kilobyte) and the lack of image support. Subprofile.com was the first website to overcome the space limitation of the buddy profile. It created the phenomenon known as the subprofile, which was opened internally in the AIM Buddy Profile window.

The subprofile allowed users a much greater amount of space to store their information. It also created new features, such as quizzes, countdowns, and random fact generators. The subprofiles created by Subprofile.com and other sites such as Buddyprofile.com still suffered from a key limitation: the lack of image support. This was overcome in 2002 by XProfile and xanga. XProfile's solution to the lack of image support was to open the link in an external browser. XProfile's subprofiles appear very much like a standard website. Later, several websites such as Buddy4u took a different approach to the problem. These profiles are opened in the AIM Today window, and in terms of window size and shape appear much like a standard profile, but with support for images and other features like those pioneered by Subprofile.com.

Other sites with emoticons:

http://www.coolbuddy.com/icons.htm - A site containing thousands of buddy icons for AOL Instant Messenger, organized by category.

http://www.jensicons.com/ - IM Buddy Icons For AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo And AOL Chat.

http://iconhell.com/ - Icon Hell has thousands of aim buddy icons that you can add to your AOL Instant Messenger window. Learn how to make buddy icons or use our icon maker.

http://www.iconator.com/ - AIM icons and away messages for use with aol instant messenger aim.

http://www.badassbuddy.com/ - Buddy Icons, MySpace Icons, Away Messages, IM icons, Bad Ass Buddy Icons.