The Little Yellow Running Man Who Changed Virtual Communication

5 min readJan 15, 2024

That little running yellow man was an iconic logo in the late 90s to early 2000s. If you mention AOL Instant Messenger to a millennial, a nostalgic look will more than likely overcome their face. It’s hard not to when AIM, as we millennials called it, broke down the boundaries of communication and revolutionized the way people were able to communicate with one another. But why did such an iconic part of social media history say its final goodbye 20 years after its inception?

Photo Source: https://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~lrm22/technology/macosx/video_chat/aim_classic/aim_setup.htm

The Evolution of AOL Instant Messenger

It can be said that the evolution of AIM has a bit of a scandalous background. The creation of AIM can be attributed to three AOL developers: Jerry Harris, Eric Bosch, and Barry Appelman, who decided to secretly embark on the creation of a standalone messaging app (Lee, 2023). When the final product was finished, they brought it to AOL executives, however, it was met with disapproval. AOL had spent the last decade domineering the internet provider realm and built its empire by charging its users fees for its services (Panko, 2017). AIM would break this mold- it would be free to users. Disapproval of the standalone messaging app from AOL executives didn’t deter Harris, Bosch, and Appelman, as they would quietly launch AIM to America in May of 1997.

The rest is history.

AIM’s ascent in popularity would skyrocket, causing AOL executives to begrudgingly allow its free standalone messaging app to proceed (Panko, 2017). But with every great rise, there will eventually be a fall. By the late 2000s, AIM users were abandoning the app for more intriguing messaging platforms such as Facebook. AIM’s popularity descended so drastically that by 2011 it held under 1 percent of market shares (Romano, 2017). Despite AIM’s brief stint of popularity, it would have an everlasting influence on emerging social media platforms.

AOL Instant Messenger’s Impact on Digital History

Most of the messaging features seen in today’s social media messengers can be attributed to AOL Messenger. The DM, internet slang, and the essential way we now talk to one another are aspects that users once experienced with AIM.

Photo Source: https://hothardware.com/news/aol-instant-messenger-is-shutting-down-after-a-tumultuous-20-year-run

The Quintessential Messaging Features

The staple features seen in messaging apps today such as online statuses, and your friends list can be attributed to AOL Messenger. The iconic online status that is seen in Facebook Messenger, Slack, and Instagram (just to name a few), showing which friends are online, offline, or away was first used with AOL Messengers Buddy List. The Buddy List was broken up into categories and whoever was online would be represented at the top of each category. For example, Buddies (4/72) meant 4 out of your 72 buddies were online. It was the first primitive friend list that displayed which friends were online and which were not. AOL Messenger’s primitive messaging features were the foundation for the messaging features we see in today’s social media messaging apps.

The Original DM

Before people were “sliding into one another’s DM’s,” they were Instant Messaging (IMing) each other. Thus, the original DM was the IM (Lee, 2023). It was the early 2000s and getting on your computer, logging onto AIM, and seeing who was online to message was all the rage. That tinge of excited interest would creep over you every time you heard that sound of a door opening letting you know someone just came online or the sound of the door closing letting you know someone just got offline. Instant messaging will forever be the first DM.

Internet Slang

Although internet slang can technically be dated back to 1979, this type of language wouldn’t gain popularity until AOL Messenger (Lee, 2023). It wasn’t until millions of users flocked to AIM that America would see a rise in the use of internet slang, which would continue in popularity with future generations. All those slang words like TTYL, BRB, BFF, BTW, fam, IRL, gucci, LMAO, etc., seen in text messages, Facebook Messenger, Slack, etc., can give thanks to AIM for bringing internet slang to life.

AOL Messenger Changed the Platform of Communication

Before the era of the Instant Messenger, there was the email. This way of communication lacked instantaneous communication. One might have to wait a whole day before hearing a response. A lack of instantaneous communication meant there was a niche for virtual instantaneous communication waiting to be developed.

Then came AOL Messenger… and virtual communication would forever be changed. It was the first time in the 21st century that people were able to instantaneously communicate with another person via the internet. It meant no more waiting around for that email response or only having instant communication through the phone. So long as you had someone’s username you had access to instant communication via AIM.

Sounding Off for the Last Time

The sound of a door closing occurred for the last time on December 15, 2017, when AOL Messenger signed off for the final time. The end of the instant messaging era for the millions of people transformed by AOL Messenger was solidified that day. However, the era of the instant message will forever hold a fond place in my heart because I was the generation that got to witness and evolve with virtual communication. That is why I chose to write about AOL Messenger’s impact on digital history. Although the era of AIM has logged off for good, it will forever hold an essential part in the history of social media.