Method and apparatus for management of a primary buddy list in an instant messaging system

A method, an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product are presented for organizing user information in an instant messaging application through the use of buddy lists and primary buddy lists. Buddy lists contain buddy objects that represent buddies in an instant messaging system, i.e. other users of an instant messaging system that are known to a particular user. Information that is associated with a buddy object is displayed within a first window of the instant messaging application. At some point in time, a user requests to designate the buddy object as a primary buddy object, and in response, information associated with the buddy object is then displayed in a second window of the instant messaging application which contains information associated with primary buddy objects. User requests to put a buddy in a primary buddy list may be performed through a variety of operations.