For those old enough to remember, nothing beat the thrill and anticipation of listening to the dial-up internet tone as your computer logged on to AOL. It wasn’t necessarily the email access or web browsing many were excited about, but the chat feature — AIM.
On AIM, you could easily exchange messages with family, friends, and often a secret crush you might not have the courage to chat with face to face. The buddy list allowed you to add friends and see who was actively online and available to chat. Leaving your computer for a few minutes? Hope you have a clever line from your favorite song or movie to post as your away message! (I can still recall the months my crush had a girlfriend and my away message borrowed lines from a popular Avril Lavigne song to “subtlety” send a message. Groan…)
But AIM is more than just a trend to reminisce on. While AOL officially shut down AIM in December 2017, the company had major impacts that can still be seen in today’s social media landscape.
Most of the major social media outlets include a chat feature, allowing users to quickly exchange messages with others. And while the platforms themselves have come a long way, chat options are still quite similar to AIM. Why is this? An article by MIT Technology Review argues that the people who built today’s messaging tools grew up in the age of AIM. And that’s not surprising. At its peak in 2001, AIM had 36 million active users.
What else can AIM can receive credit for? According to Smithsonian Magazine, AIM established for many people one of the most critical elements of online identify: the screen name. Whether replacing letters with numerals, crafting puns or creating a new identity all-together, AIM allowed users to embody whatever character they wished to be.
AIM also allowed the opportunity to chat with “SmarterChild” one of the first chatbots.
Finally, much of the shorthand text-speak abbreviations used today (think LOL and BRB) were results of the AIM era.
Today, online chat is used for more than just casual conversation. In fact, many organizations implement chat options for professionals to converse quickly without the formality of emails. With the popularization of the work from home trend thanks to the pandemic, this feature has become even more popular in the workplace. In fact, the Wall Street Journal declared group chat “the hottest thing in IT” and SHRM believes group chat could be the new email.
While it might not be around today, AIM revolutionized the idea that people could quickly and easily converse without picking up the phone. During its time, sending text messages was time consuming (press the number “2” three times if you want the letter “c”) and costly. With an internet line, users could chat for hours with friends and strangers alike. As technology advances, expect to see chat features and accessibly increase as well, but don’t expect it to disappear anytime soon!
References:
Sklar, J. (2020, April 2). AOL Instant Messenger made social media what it is today. MIT Technology Review. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://www.technologyreview.com/2017/12/14/67582/aol-instant-messenger-made-social-media-what-it-is-today/
Magazine, S. (2017, December 11). AOL Instant Messenger taught us how to communicate in the modern world. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/aol-instant-messenger-taught-us-how-to-communicate-in-modern-world-180967484/
Mims, C. (2016, November 9). Group chat emerges as the hottest thing in it. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/group-chat-emerges-as-the-hottest-thing-in-it-1478459151
Harbert, T. (2019, August 16). Is group chat the new e-mail? SHRM. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/1117/pages/is-group-chat-the-new-email-.aspx
AOL Instant Messenger logo. https://seeklogo.com/vector-logo/9498/aol-instant-messenger
AIM away message graphic. https://www.throwbacks.com/aol-instant-messenger-is-being-shut-down-and-its-truly-the-end-of-an-era/
AIM Rest In Peace tombstone graphic. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/10/aol-instant-messenger-aim-shutting-down-on-december-15.html
SmarterChild chat exchange graphic. https://www.popsugar.com/tech/photo-gallery/42472627/embed/42472804/Spamming-SmarterChild-best-thing-do
