Method and device for informing contact state in instant messaging

The invention provides method and device for informing a contact state in instant messaging. The method for informing the contact state in the instant messaging comprises the steps of setting a state list which represents the contact states, wherein each state list is used for identifying one corresponding state in the plurality of states of all contacts and includes a plurality of indicating bits, and each indicating bit is used for identifying to determine whether the current state of the corresponding contact is the state corresponding to each state list; sending at least one state list for identifying at least one state of all the contacts to a terminal corresponding to each of the contacts; determining the current states of all contacts by the terminal corresponding to each contact according to at least one state list. According to the technical scheme, the method and device have the effect of effectively decreasing data traffic of a server during transmitting a state message.