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What happened to AOL’s Instant Messenger (AIM)?
I remember coming home, making sure the phone line was clear, and logging into American Online. I would go into chat rooms of interest and talk to strangers for hours on AOL Instant Message (AIM). This technology was a total game changer when cell phones were not widely available, the convenience of chatting with other people from around the nation without the high cost of long-distance phone calls was available.
At its peak in 2001, AIM had 36 million active users. This was a popular way for people to communicate in the late 1990s. AIM established one of many people’s most critical elements of online identity: the screen name. In a text-only environment, screen names provide some of the only identifying cues for users. The buddy lists and, most importantly, away messages were a way of life. It also made the show How to catch a predator?” popular highlighting the dangers of online interactions.
AOL had mastered the art of attracting and then monetizing dial-up subscribers but was unprepared for the boom in popularity of broadband internet. For example, AIM dominated online chat in North America at the turn of the century. Nevertheless, with SMS and social apps like Facebook and WhatsApp having conquered chat, AOL gave up the fight with no planned replacement. As a result, AIM shut down in December 2017, 20 years after it launched. I am surprised it lasted as long as it did with the competition outperforming this legacy platform for many years.
AIM also opened the door to a new type of slang as an abbreviation. SMH meant Shaking my head, and the LOL (laugh out loud) is still used today to communicate. Teenagers used the POS term that had a different meaning: Parent over Shoulder. The creepy way to ask where someone was from is in the form of A/S/L (Age/Sex/Location). This technology and chat carried over to today’s gamer community like Fortnite.
Everything AIM did co-opt to more manageable to use sites you carried in your pocket instead of storing on your PC. Many prominent social media sites can chat during live video streaming and even private message. This platform made social media what it is…
