You’ve Got Mail! The History and Impact of AOL Instant Messenger
It is no understatement to say that AOL Instant Messenger was one of the most influential fixtures of the early Internet. At its peak, it boasted 36 million active users (Sklar, 2017). It revolutionized online messaging, furthered the trend of pushing the internet into the mainstream (Sklar, 2017), and inspired countless people, from informing how Mark Zuckerberg created certain Facebook Messenger features (2017), to being a major plot device in the 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan (Warner Bros. Entertainment) and beyond. But, AOL Instant Messenger was never supposed to be made (Abbruzzese, 2014). The project itself was “unsanctioned” by AOL and had its developers working on their own time just to get a negative reaction when they pitched the platform to management (Abbruzzese, 2014). So how did this almost-rejected project lay the groundwork for nearly all online messaging platforms going forward?
The Beginnings of AIM
The Creation
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was created by AOL employees Barry Appleman and Eric Bosco, who were Unix programmers, and Jerry Harris, who was a web browser programmer (Abbruzzese, 2014). Along with a team of engineers, Appleman, Bosco, and Harris worked on the project in secret, with the development of AIM being withheld from AOL executives. At the time, AOL was the largest internet service provider in the United States (Bowman, 2017). They had recently switched from charging users hourly to browse the internet to a flat subscription fee (Abbruzzese, 2014) of $19.99 a month (Bowman, 2017). In a 2014 interview, co-creator Barry Appleman recalled that when AIM was pitched to AOL management, they did not react well, initially hating the product (Abbruzzese, 2014). Appleman said that AOL “…wanted to kill [AIM] and at some point they wanted to fire me for doing this stunt,” largely because the thought of including the software free went against their business model of selling subscriptions. In the same interview, Appleman credits the product team at AOL with convincing executives to push the product to market.
Launch and Growth
AOL Instant Messenger was finally launched in May of 1997 (Bowman, 2017). The platform was released quietly, but quickly garnered worldwide attention, with AIM becoming responsible for fifty-two percent of the online messaging market by the mid-2000s (Panko, 2017). AIM was free, with help from the development team pushing executives to keep it so, (Abruzzese, 2014), making AIM extremely accessible. This accessibility worked in AOL’s favor because, in 2001, AIM hit its peak with 36 million active users (Sklar, 2017). At this point in time, many phones still lacked the ability to send texts and were incredibly expensive besides (Bowman, 2017), so providing a free way to instant message created a whole new avenue for people to accessibly communicate.
AIM had no lack of imitators at any point of its existence, including at the beginning. Many competitive instant messaging products were released into the market soon after the launch of AIM, including Yahoo! Messenger in 1998, Microsoft’s MSN Messenger in 1999, and Apple’s iChat in 2002 (Desjardins, 2016). At this point, though, AIM was able to keep control of the instant messaging market, even if that control wouldn’t last forever.
Self-Expression Through AIM
AIM was not only a platform that let people message each other, it was a space where people could express individuality (Romano, 2017). Users were able to express themselves through their chosen ScreenName or setting an away message that spoke to who they were or wanted to be. It allowed people to emote through emoticons, first in popular use on AIM and now a staple of internet language, and helped set the tone for how we as humans communicate on the internet to this day.
The Downfall of AIM
AIM could not reign supreme forever. While it was able to keep its foothold on the instant messaging market through the first few years, its competition was able to improve upon what AIM started, leaving it in the dust. Skype introduced video and audio to straight digital messages in 2003 (Desjardins, 2016). Google introduced Google Talk in 2006. MySpace launched in 2006 with its own instant messenger built into the platform. Facebook releases a chat function, WhatsApp launches, and Snapchat launches, which adds timed photos to the mic. Other companies were able to take the idea of AOL Instant Messenger and make it more attractive to consumers on their platforms.
In October 2017, it was announced that AIM would shut down in December of the same year with only 500,000 active users left on the platform (Sklar, 2017). Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, posted a lengthy eulogy in which he credits AIM for inspiring features of Facebook Messenger and called the platform “a defining part of [his] childhood,” (2017). Countless tributes poured out in the form of posts and articles, many of which are cited in this piece), touching on the nostalgia of AIM and how it shaped them.
Reflecting on AIM
Impact on Digital History
The creation and popularization of AOL Instant Messenger was instrumental in the furtherance of digital communication. AIM is responsible for the popularization of text abbreviations like “GTG,” “TTYL,” and “LOL” (Rose Gardener, 2017) as well as emoticons (Romano, 2017), both of which remain prominent fixtures of digital communication. It helped inform the language we use when we communicate with each other on the internet by creating the first major hub for Internet culture. The most impactful thing it did was secure digital communications as a global tool going into the 21st century. As pointed out above, AIM was killed by the competitors it inspired, leaving its footprint all over the internet through those platforms. AIM was a direct inspiration for messaging platforms and messaging features on other social networking sites, and without it, these other platforms wouldn’t have had a model on which to base online connectivity and communication.
Personal Reflection
I personally never used AIM, which is part of what drives my interest. By the time I was using social media and messaging people, AIM was well past its heyday, and as a society, we had moved onto different messaging routes. I, for one, was using Google+ and Skype during my earliest exploration into social media messaging. The other much less academic driver of my interest is, of course, my love of Nora Ephron’s movies, of which You’ve Got Mail is no exception. It is used as such a great plot device in that movie, and I love how its pervasiveness throughout the film makes it a true product of its time.
Conclusion
While AOL Instant Messenger may not be around anymore, the footprint it left on digital history will remain for decades to come. A secret project turned cultural revolution, AIM helped clear the way for what messaging on the internet could look like. It solidified the internet as more than a fad and showed that the internet could be a tool for communication and connection in our world.
References
Abbruzzese, J. (2014, April 15). The Rise and Fall of AIM, the Breakthrough AOL Never Wanted. Mashable. https://mashable.com/archive/aim-history
Bowman, N. (2017, December 11). AOL Instant Messenger taught us how to communicate in the modern world. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/aol-instant-messenger-taught-us-how-to-communicate-in-modern-world-180967484/
Desjardins, J. (2016, November 17). The Evolution of Instant Messaging. Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/evolution-instant-messaging/
Panko, B. (2017, October 6). The Sharp Rise and Steep Descent of AOL Instant Messenger. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/pioneering-aol-instant-messenger-end-180965152/
Romano, A. (2017, December 15). AIM shuts down: AOL Instant Messenger Changed the Way We Communicate. Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/12/15/16780418/aim-aol-instant-messenger-shutdown-cultural-impact
Rose Gardener, H. (2017, November 16). AOL Instant Messenger | Center for Mobile Communication Studies. © 2024 Boston University. https://sites.bu.edu/cmcs/2017/11/16/aol-instant-messenger/
Sklar, J. (2017, December 14). AOL Instant Messenger Made Social Media What It Is Today. MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2017/12/14/67582/aol-instant-messenger-made-social-media-what-it-is-today/#:~:text=At%20its%20peak%20in%202001,of%20the%20early%20Internet%20offline.
Warner Bros. Entertainment. (1998). Retrieved January 13, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTHpVs1paf4&ab_channel=WarnerBros.Entertainment.
Zuckerberg, M. (2017, October 7). AOL Instant Messenger was a defining part of my childhood. As part of the first generation to grow up with. [Link Attached] [Status Update] Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10104089418394551
