1. A computer implemented method in a data processing system for formatting a display of data corresponding to a current activity of a user on a network, the computer implemented method comprising: receiving by a server device a contact list, tags of interest, and visual display mapping preferences associated with a user from a client device via the network; receiving by the server device a real time broadcast of a current activity of the user on the network; selecting by the server device a tag of interest associated with the user that is most relevant to the current activity of the user; receiving by the server device real time broadcasts of current activities on the network of contacts listed in the contact list associated with the user; selecting by the server device tags of interest associated with each of the contacts in the contact list that are most relevant to the current activities of each of the contacts; comparing by the server device the tag of interest selected most relevant to the current activity of the user with the tags of interest selected most relevant to the current activities of the contacts; and transmitting by the server device data corresponding to the current activity of the user and the current activities of each of the contacts having a matching tag of interest with the tag of interest selected most relevant to the current activity of the user in a format determined by the visual display mapping preferences associated with the user to the client device via the network.