Methods, apparatus and systems for message notification in instant messaging are provided in which a message in an instant messaging session is received at a client application. The content of the received message is compared with a set of entries and the content is matched with an entry. Notification of a new message is displayed in a form representing the matched entry. Each entry may be associated with a category and the step of displaying notification represents the category of the matched entry. The entries may be any one of or a combination of words, phrases and/or symbols which commonly appear in messages such that a user can determine the category of a message content without focusing on the message.