Last week a customer got in touch, in a right panic, as Skype was telling them “Busy, do not disturb”.
They naturally asked “why is Skype busy, and why is it busy?” (For those of you who already know where this is going try not to giggle, there are others less fortunate in the ‘status’ knowledge).
Messenger status choices
The answer was very, simple, it wasn’t Skype that was ‘busy’, it was because the customer had set their online status to be ‘busy’ by accident.
So lets start with the very basics, when you’re using Live Messenger, Skype, Yahoo Messenger, etc, you typically will appear ‘online’ to others when you sign on. This notifies others that you have come online and that you’re ready to talk, chat and do whatever you kids do.
However, all of these programs give users the option to change their status to notify others. For example, in Skype when you’re chatting with someone or doing a video call, your status will be set to ‘busy’. Another example of a change of status is that should you leave the computer for a few minutes, then your status will change to ‘idle’ or ‘away’, again to notify others that you have signed-in but have left the computer. So people can still try calling upon you but they may not get a response.
In the case of my customer, you can deliberately set your own status to be something other than just online. For instance you may want to change your status to be ‘in a call’ as you are on the phone at that particular moment, but you will be with someone (should they try contacting you) shortly.
Lastly, some instant messenger programs also have the option to ‘appear offline’. This is why you can set your status to appear to others that you’re not online and signed in, but you actually are – but they can’t tell that. You can see who in your social group is online.
Example: Live Messenger Status Options
It’s a bit like an invisibility cloak (if you need some other idea of the concept), you can see other people, but they cannot see you.
To change your status either use the normal window to view your contacts and look for where it says “online” by your sign-in name, or (much easier) right-click over the messenger icon in the bottom right of your screen and change your status there (see example on the right).
Hope this clears-up any frantic, panic, confusion.
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