Disclosed is a multimedia message service method and system for sharing and searching for multimedia messages stored in an MM box. The MMS client has the possibility to associate an access mode ("public", "restricted", or "private") to any multimedia message stored in or uploaded to an MM box. When a multimedia message is permitted to be shared, the MMS clients who have been granted access to the multimedia message can be notified of the shared multimedia message. When the MMS client requests to view or retrieve a multimedia message, the MMS relay/server checks if the MMS client has been granted permission to access to the multimedia message. If the MMS client has been granted permission to access to the multimedia message, the MMS relay/server allows the MMS client to access the multimedia message.