A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for implementing professional use of instant messaging. A flow of an IM conversation is displayed. Responsive to identifying a user selection to pair a response with a previous request, a user entered response and a user selected previous request are sent. Responsive to a user selection, a new topic is displayed in a new view and a new IM conversation is started. When an IM conversation is completed or a window is closed for the IM conversation; the IM conversation is automatically saved. Responsive to a user selection, another user is added to the IM conversation and a window including the flow of the IM conversation is displayed to the added user. An object can be linked to an IM conversation and the IM conversation is automatically saved with the selected object.