AIM (AOL Instant Messenger): The “OG” of Online Chat

Lorren Booher
3 min readJan 15, 2021

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America Online main sign-on screen

Circa 1997 — do you hear it? That dial up sound that signs you into your AOL account connecting you to all your virtual friends and family members? I sure do! I recall getting home from school, racing to the computer and signing on to talk to all my friends (who I literally just saw at school all day) about all the juicy gossip around the halls of middle school. Who liked who? Who hates who? Who’s mad at who? Who fought who? Who stole who’s girlfriend or boyfriend — you get the point. If you were a 90s kid, then you 100% can sit on this reminense train with me — It was the way of the world then (and if you weren’t, well I just feel old now) AIM was the original online chat service that we didn’t know we needed! Actually, I have fond and vivid memories of AIM, my screenname, (LilBrat514) because at 13, you’re a cool kid if you throw some slang in your username, (present day adult me just shakes head and laughs).

“AOL instant messenger (AIM) launched in May 1997 as a way for AOL users to chat with each other in real time via text. AIM provided a space for discreet real-time interaction, with a layer of privacy not necessarily afforded by the home phone (Bowman, 2017).” With the ever changing revolution of the tech world and instant gratification, surprisingly (I didn’t know this) AIM lasted 30 years, they just recently shut down in 2017! In AOL’s own statement about the shutdown says, “The way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed (Aimemories, 1997).”

AIM chat box

I believe AIM was the gateway into the way we communicate digitally today. We’re such an instant gratification society now, that most of us text or email more than we actually have a conversation over the phone, am I right?!

According to Omnicore (2021),“Internet users on social media have an average of 8 accounts. The average user has an account on more than 8 different social media platforms, and spends an average of 2 hours and 29 minutes using social media each day.” Granted, some of these platforms could be used for business purposes, but I’m referring to a more personal/selfish reason to have social media. The idea is to connect with other people, but let’s be real. All of these different types of social media platforms do the exact same thing and serve the same purpose: to send out the exact same message and/or pictures, to the same followers, at the same time, to get the same result: a heart or a like.

References:

aimemories. (1997). Tumbler. https://aimemories.tumblr.com/?xid=PS_smithsonian

Bowman, N. T. C. (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/

Omnicore. (2021, January 8). 70+ Social Media Statistics you need to know in 2021 [Updated]. https://www.omnicoreagency.com/social-media-statistics/#:%7E:text=Internet%20users%20on%20social%20media,using%20social%20media%20each%20day.

Image source:

[AIM chat box]. (1997). Techcrunch. https://techcrunch.com/

[America Online main sign on screen]. (1997). https://www.pastemagazine.com/tech/aol/the-end-of-aim-how-instant-messaging-changed-every/

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