AOL is planning an upgrade to its messenger software that will tell users not only when their friends are online but also what content they are uploading.

Using RSS feeds, AIM users can track when their friends publish content, such as posting a video to YouTube, or a picture on Flickr, Reuters reports. Other enhancements to the upgrade, dubbed AIM 6.0, include the ability to add up to 1,000 buddies and to send them messages even when they are offline.

While the upgrade also allows users to subscribe to RSS feeds of their buddies' AIM Pages profiles, the far more intriguing aspect is the ability to retrieve and track how buddies interact with content on non-AOL sites. That's a break from AOL's tendency to have AIM operating in a closed system that cannot operate with similar services, such as Yahoo Messenger.

AOL is also in talks with Google about exploring the possibility of making the AIM service operational with Google Talk users.