Exemplary embodiments described herein are directed to systems and methods that estimate a user's affect and communication preferences from presence data. The exemplary embodiments use a small set of features derived from a user's recent high level presence states. Exemplary embodiments also use features from broader classes of presence data. Utilizing features from a combination of presence data and recent presence states may provide improvement over estimates that users are able to make themselves. The exemplary embodiments further consider cost, burden on the user, and privacy issues in estimating affect and communication preferences.