AIM makes finding friends and family easy with a "Find a Buddy" wizard that allows you to search for AIM users by their e-mail address, name and address, or areas of common interest (hobbies). If the search turns up a user that is online, you can send an instant message to them directly; otherwise, you can add their screen name to your Buddy List so that you can initiate a message exchange later on.
Your Buddy List contains screen names for other AIM users and displays information about whether they're online or not. Separated into family, co-workers, and buddies sections by default (you can also add your own groups), the Buddy List makes it simple to send quick messages to other users. You can also trade Buddy Lists with other users to increase your list of buddies.
Each buddy on your Buddy List can be given a Buddy Icon that helps you tell them apart from other buddies. There's also a blocking feature that can be set up to prevent individual buddies or groups of users from communicating with you until you turn the option back off.
