Method, system and apparatus for initiating and processing communications in an instant messaging application

A messaging server, comprising:

• a memory storing a plurality of subscriber records, each subscriber record containing (i) a subscriber identifier, (ii) routing information for routing messages addressed to the subscriber identifier from the messaging server to a computing device corresponding to the subscriber identifier, and (iii) a subscriber type indicator;
• a first subset of the subscriber records having a first subscriber type indicator, and a second subset of the subscriber records having a second subscriber type indicator;
• a network interface;
• and
• a processor interconnected with the memory and the network interface, the processor configured to:
• determine whether to generate initiation data;
• when the determination is affirmative:
• select at least one of the second subset of the subscriber records;
• generate the initiation data, the initiation data including at least the subscriber identifier of the selected subscriber record;
• and
• transmit the initiation data from the message server to a computing device corresponding to at least one of the first subset of subscriber records.