But ActiveBuddy shut off SmarterChild last year when the company determined that it competed too closely with commercial efforts by its partners, such as marketing moves by AOL Time Warner's movie arm, Warner Bros.Īdvertisers and marketers have been particularly drawn to messaging services as a way to market products or enhance relationships with consumers. It most closely resembles the functionality of once-popular buddy 'SmarterChild,' developed by New York-based ActiveBuddy, which gave people using AOL, Yahoo or MSN the ability to play games or access data on sports, weather or finances via instant chat.

ZoeOnAOL is the latest in a line of instant-chat bots introduced by various companies. And the company has steadily unveiled new instant-chat bots meant for marketing purposes, aligning with advertisers. In the coming year, Dulles, Va.-based AOL plans to sell its IM software to corporations.

The move comes as the struggling online arm of media giant AOL Time Warner looks for new ways to tap Instant Messenger's popularity to build member loyalty and grow revenue.

Instant messenger