Tuesday, October 10th 2017
All Hail a Forerunner of Social Media, AOL Instant Messenger (1997-2017)
Perhaps the only surprising thing about the announcement last week that AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is shutting down December 15, 2017 is that it did not happen years ago. After all, AIM had a market share of less than one percent… in 2011! But it was not always like that. For internet users of a certain age, AIM, like Nullsoft's Winamp, was likely once one of those must have programs.
In its heyday, the mid-2000s, AIM accounted for over half the instant messaging market; helping to popularise online conversations, as well as features, like custom icons and personalized profiles, now taken for granted. The service gradually fell out of favor as social media evolved, not an entirely unexpected development. But AIM's problems went much deeper. The service, like Winamp, was completely mismanaged by AOL, which was never entirely comfortable with a free product nor able to adapt (to the rise of mobile communications). The early pioneers of instant messaging, AIM, ICQ and MSN Messenger, engendered cross-platform programs, like Skype and WhatsApp, that are capable of handling all forms of communication, not just text conversations amongst desktop users.
Source:
Smithsonian Magazine
In its heyday, the mid-2000s, AIM accounted for over half the instant messaging market; helping to popularise online conversations, as well as features, like custom icons and personalized profiles, now taken for granted. The service gradually fell out of favor as social media evolved, not an entirely unexpected development. But AIM's problems went much deeper. The service, like Winamp, was completely mismanaged by AOL, which was never entirely comfortable with a free product nor able to adapt (to the rise of mobile communications). The early pioneers of instant messaging, AIM, ICQ and MSN Messenger, engendered cross-platform programs, like Skype and WhatsApp, that are capable of handling all forms of communication, not just text conversations amongst desktop users.
24 Comments on All Hail a Forerunner of Social Media, AOL Instant Messenger (1997-2017)
AIM, Yahoo!, Skype, QQ, IMVU, MSN(Windows Live Messenger), and many others.
It's been a good run. I actually haven't touched AIM in so long that I thought it was dead for over 7 years.
I am oddly attracted to forums like this though.
Played a lot Battlefield 1942 back then, including modding. Quickly sharing small files, links and screenshots.
I've hold onto Yahoo Messenger right till this last update turned it into something unusable. To add insult to injury, Yahoo actually had a feedback page for the new client, page where you couldn't find a single positive thing about it and they went ahead and released anyway.
IM may have gotten a lot more fancier over time, but the inability to send messages across services still irks me to no end.
Also used ICQ and yahoo messenger for a few years lol.
Oh well, if needed I chat on facebook nowadays. :p
Things have changed over years.
Facebook seems to have really taken more and more in terms of friend chat but I still use my GChat (Hangouts now...I guess) as my method of choice. Interesting to look at the past 15 or so years and see slight shifts.
AIM though will always hold a special place.
Back on topic, I never used AIM. Was never much of an IM/chat kind of guy. Still, it's weirdly sad and nostalgic to see that last little bit of America Online finally go offline for good. We've come a long way in 20 years. I wonder where we'll be in another 20?Same here. Had facebook for a long time, but it went south a couple years ago and just sucks now.
Ah its Skype for business now I see
They do still have this
www.microsoft.com/nl-nl/download/details.aspx?id=35450
I used IM back in the day, but, as my contacts lists dwindled, as people moved to MySpace and/or Facebook, I just lost interest; in part because long distance became more affordable.
I had it in 2007 or so. It just made me very uncomfortable.. having different social circles I had kept apart all of my life suddenly converging. And then the preening... and almost feeling insecure myself to make my life more "exciting" (this is not natural to me.. but just being honest..I suppose women brought out the worst in me lol). I had to get away from it. I'm not very social anyways.
But it was actually the "advertising" of it's own users that turned me off.... ironically. And what I almost felt dragged into myself.
The surround is just perfect on Winamp compared to any other media players.
Also the visualization is top notch.
Of course I also still use IRC.
Does anyone still remember their ICQ login numbers? (I still remember mine)