AIM, the AOL-run instant messaging app that launched in 1997 and would go on to dominate the online chat space for the next decade, is shutting down after 20 years.
“If you were a 90’s kid, chances are there was a point in time when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was a huge part of your life. You likely remember the CD, your first screenname, your carefully curated away messages, and how you organized your buddy lists,” said a farewell post by Michael Albers, vice president of communications product at Oath (a Verizon brand that overtook AOL).
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The company announced earlier this week that the platform will officially be discontinued on Dec. 15, 2017. The tech news website, The Verge, notes that AOL cut off access from third-party chat clients to AIM back in March, hinting at its fate.
In Albers’ statement, he alludes that when new technologies forever changed communication, the need for a desktop-only product like AIM was drastically reduced.
“AIM tapped into new digital technologies and ignited a cultural shift, but the way in which we communicate with each other has profoundly changed,” the statement read.
The platform was so prominent in its glory days that it was often featured in what would go on to become iconic pop culture landmarks, like “You Got Mail” and “Sex and the City”.
The smartphone era is often credited with killing off several desktop chat apps, reports CNN. Conversations that once happened over AIM, quickly moved to mobile texting, Facebook Messaging, WhatsApp and others.
In fact, the past five years have seen the death of several desktop chat apps, including MSN Messenger in 2014 and Yahoo Messenger last year.
People from across the internet expressed their despair at the news, and also shared their screennames.
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