# Conversation Participants

A participant can send and receive messages in a conversation. There are different types of participants. Depending on the type, the meaning of the participant ID changes:

<table><thead><tr><th width="207">Participant type</th><th width="315">Description</th><th>Meaning of participant ID</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><code>accessKey</code></td><td>A Bird API access key. This is what you'll commonly use when sending messages through the Conversations API</td><td>Access key ID</td></tr><tr><td><code>user</code></td><td>A user belonging to your workspace. This will typically represent customer service agents.</td><td>User ID</td></tr><tr><td><code>contact</code></td><td>A contact. This represents your customer, lead, or end-user.</td><td>Contact ID</td></tr><tr><td><code>flow</code></td><td>A Bird flow</td><td>Flow ID</td></tr><tr><td><code>bot</code></td><td>An AI LLM bot</td><td>Bot ID</td></tr><tr><td><code>connector</code></td><td>A campaign message</td><td>Connector ID</td></tr><tr><td><code>channel</code></td><td>Used by instagram echo messages</td><td>Channel ID</td></tr><tr><td><code>collaborationAutomation</code></td><td>Actions automatically executed by Action Rules</td><td>Action Rule ID</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Identifier Keys and Values

In Bird, a message recipient is identified by an "identifier key" and "identifier value" pair which depend on the platform of the channel being used:

* In an email channel, `identifierKey` is `emailaddress` and `identifierValue` is the email address of the recipient, e.g. `john.doe@example.com`
* In WhatsApp, RCS, SMS, and Viber, `identifierKey` is `phonenumber` and `identifierValue` is the phone number with an international call prefix, such as `+31612345678`
* Remaining channels have custom `identifierKey` and `identifierValue` formats that can be extracted from messages after an initial user interaction:
  * In Facebook, an example identifier key is `facebookid-164849000012345` and an example identifier value is `720197540012345`
  * In Apple Business Chat, an example identifier key is `applebc-c72f4be3-2773-4ad4-86cf-6a6b4b3cb837` and an example identifier value is `urn:mbid:c29tZSByYW5kb20gYmFzZTY0IGNvbnRlbnQ=`

Some APIs allow you to refer to a conversation participant in two ways, either by specifying their participant ID, or by specifying their identifier key and identifier value pair.

## API Reference Guide

1. [Add participant to conversation](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/add-participant-to-conversation)
2. [List participants](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/list-participants)
3. [Get participant by ID](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/get-participant-by-id)
4. [Get participant by identifier key and value](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/get-participant-by-identifier-key-and-value)
5. [Update participant by ID](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/update-participant-by-id)
6. [Update participant by identifier key and value](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/update-participant-by-v-key-and-value)
7. [Delete participant](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/delete-participant)
8. [List participant conversations by ID](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/list-participant-conversations-by-id)
9. [List participant conversations by identifier key and value](https://docs.bird.com/api/conversations-api/api-reference/conversation-participants/list-participant-conversations-by-identifier-key-and-value)