Identifying and displaying relevant shared entities in an instant messaging system

A method of sharing an entity between a first user and a second user within an instant messaging system, the method comprising:

• in response to the first user sharing an entity with the second user via the instant messaging system, displaying a display representation of the shared entity in a display representation of a buddy list of the second user;
• and
• indicating to the second user the accessibility of the shared entity and an association of the shared entity with the first user.

A method of associating an instant message session with an entity, the method comprising:

• analyzing at least one instant message of the instant message session between a first user and a second user to identify a reference to the entity;
• and
• associating at least a portion of a transcript of the instant message session with the entity to indicate that the transcript of the instant message session is related to the entity.

A program product, comprising:

• program code configured to process an instant message session between a first user and a second user in an instant messaging system by identifying at least one relevant entity from among a plurality of entities based upon the relevant entity being shared by the first and second users participating in the instant message session and highlighting a display representation of the relevant entity to indicate that the relevant entity is related to the instant message session;
• and
• a computer readable medium bearing the program code.