I.M. Can't Keep It Real.

• Author: GUERNSEY, LISA
• Position: Chatty e-mail

In the instant-messaging boom, big business wants to use chatty new robots to be your buddy

Many instant-messaging fans around the world have been adding an especially peculiar new name to their buddy lists: GooglyMinotaur.

This buddy--let s call him Googly for short--can chat endlessly about his favorite music, and he never seems to tire of answering questions. Say hello to Googly, and he replies cheerfully and quickly: "I'm your instant source for all things Radiohead" (see "Slinging Slang at a Fake Buddy," opposite page).

You might assume that Googly is a groupie with too much time on his hands. But Googly isn't a person. It's an instant messaging robot, or bot, introduced by Radiohead's label, Capitol Records, to provide information-on-request about the band members, their concerts, and albums. Named after a worried-looking monster on the band's Amnesiac CD cover, Googly regurgitates preprogrammed responses to about 5,000 questions, seeming to mimic artificial intelligence.

"It's a really cool idea," says Shelby Powell, a 13-year-old in Palm Bay, Florida, who already has 92 real people on his buddy list.

Capitol Records is one of a growing number of businesses that are popping up in the usually private arena of instant messaging, where computer conversations can be immediate and even invasive. Close to 100 million people now use I.M. software, including 54 percent of all 12- to 17-year-olds in the United States. That untapped market is all but impossible for businesses to ignore.

FAO Schwarz, the toy store, is using a buddy named ShopFAO that can provide customer service. Vans, the sports shoe and apparel company, may install an I.M. alert system to tell people about upcoming skateboard tours that it sponsors.

Even AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), which first introduced I.M. to the mainstream in 1997, is morphing into a more commercial tool. In the beta version of AIM 4.7, users are greeted by an "AIM Today" window that acts like the general AOL welcome screen, promoting links to Web sites on fitness, entertainment, and sports.

PROTECTING YOUR SPACE

"This could become very powerful," says Peter Levitan, chief executive of ActiveBuddy, the company that designed the Radiohead bot. Imagine an I.M. system, he says, "that would tell you exactly when tickets have gone on sale for the next concert."

But avid teen users have a warning for companies that are itching to hawk products through instant messages: This party is by invitation only.

"I...