Advertising on instant messenger? Yes, indeed.

Looking back on the different forms of communication, like postal mail, TV, radio, the phone, and e-mail, you can easily see that all of these options feature advertisements. Commercials, sales catalogs, spam, telemarketers, etc.

So it was only a matter of time before that trend continued into instant messaging. It's gaining popularity now because of a company called ProfileAds, which provides you with a special code that you put in your profile or away message. You earn money whenever someone clicks on one of your ads!

I highly recommend signing-up for ProfileAds, but I also want to mention a few other ways you can make money with IM.

1. Advertise your blog

Seems like everyone has a blog these days, doesn't it? Send your buddies to your blog where you have ads (like Google Adsense) that they can click on.

2. For Sale ads

You could post stuff you want to sell in your profile. Kind of like a classified ad.

Let's say that you like to play golf. Chances are that your friends and contacts do, too. And if these are the people looking at your profile, you may be able to sell your old stuff to them!

3. Free iPods

Sign-up at freeipods.com and then put your referral link in your profile. Then other people will see it and sign-up under you, and you can get your iPod. (Which is like making money!)

See http://freeipods-exposed.com for more details on this.

4. Donations

You could try putting a "PayPal Donate" button in your profile. Say you need money to buy something, then put some kind of ranking in there (like the thermometers) to gauge your progress. Encourage people to donate a dollar or some other small amount. Make it interesting, maybe with a countdown.

Maybe even offer to put the donor's name or a saying of their choice in your profile. Every dollar gets a line of text in your profile for a day.

(This is only a good idea if you are comfortable with statements like "I am a loser" in your profile :)

5. Affiliate Programs

My personal favorite method. You sign-up with a merchant like Amazon.com and then get special referral links, similar to what you get with ProfileAds. You simply post these links in your profile or away message.

Whenever someone goes through your link and makes a purchase, you will get paid a commission from that sale! (You won't be guaranteed any money just for clicks, but if you make a sale, you could make a pretty decent amount!)

Look into products that your friends will like. For example, sporting goods, personal electronics, and posters. Posters are great for the college crowd.