A user's chatterbot participates in a chat session with other users and the other users' chatterbots. The originator of an incoming instant message is identified to such a degree that a buddy on a buddy list is able to determine that the instant message was sent by a user's chatterbot (e.g., "Jackie's chatterbot"), and not the user ("Jackie"). The chatterbots can communicate with other chatterbots while the chatterbots' users listen to the chatterbots converse. The chatterbots may respond to messages originated by other chatterbots' messages and buddies' (users') messages.