Ever wondered why people have this i’m emoticon in their nicks in Windows Live Messenger? Well, this is what I use to think, when I didn’t know what this i’m emoticon is all about. Last night, while going through the pages of Windows Live website I came accross the home page of i’m.

i’m is a new initiative from Windows Live Messenger. Every time you start a conversation using i’m, Microsoft shares a portion of the program’s advertising revenue with some of the world’s most effective organizations dedicated to social causes. They’ve set no cap on the amount they’ll donate to each organization. The sky’s the limit. There’s no charge, so join now and put their money where your mouth is.

i’m is about making a difference. Not in a huge expensive way, not in a time-consuming way. But in a simple, effective way.

You won’t have to change your conversation to change the conversation. With every instant message you help address the issues you feel most passionate about, including poverty, child protection, disease, and environmental degradation. It’s simple. All you have to do is join and start an instant messaging conversation. They’ll handle the donation.

Once you’ve signed up, every ad you see in your message window contributes to the grand total they send to the causes.

Exciting isn’t it? So, why not join now!

Joining is a simple process, which is explained below.

1. From your Contacts window, click the arrow next to your name and select “Options”.
   
2. Next to your name, type one of the following codes, including the asterisk, for the cause you’d like to support.

   Text Code	Cause
   *red+u	American Red Cross
   *bgca	Boys & Girls Clubs of America
   *naf	National AIDS Fund
   *mssoc	National MS Society
   *9mil	ninemillion.org
   *sierra	Sierra Club
   *help	StopGlobalWarming.org
   *komen	Susan G. Komen for the Cure
   *unicef	U.S. Fund for UNICEF

3. Click “OK” to complete the sign-up process.

That’s it! Simple, eh? Spread this as much as you can, because still there are people who are unaware of this programme by Windows Live. So everyone put up this tag and you are in this programme, helping millions of people while you chat with your friends, colleagues etc.

I hope you guys got my point of writing this post. ;)