Visibility profiles associated with a substantially real time messaging environment are disclosed. Additionally, techniques for managing visibility profiles are disclosed, which include automatically associating a first profile with a first situation, automatically associating a second profile with a second situation, and where the first and second profiles are associated with visibility. Visibility profiles may be used to manage the appearance of a user to other users/friends for communication using applications such as instant messaging, electronic mail, web-based mail programs, or other types of data communication exchange applications.