AOL’s
Instant Messenger service was finally erased from the
internet Friday after the company made the announcement
in October that Dec. 15 would be the chat platform’s
last day on Earth.
Long
gone are the days where parents would mandate time
limits on teens’ internet usage as you messaged away
emojis and emo song lyrics in a chat room with friends.
AIM
first emerged in 1997 and paved the way for the
countless instant messaging platforms that exist today,
such as Facebook Messenger, Gchat and pretty much every
app’s own messaging service.
For
a substantial period from the ’90s and 2000s, a
majority of teens used their parent’s dial-up services
to log on to family computer to speak over the web with
people they likely saw every day (unless you visited the
Wild West of AIM, a.k.a. a chat room).
AIM
was known for its memorable catchphrases like: BRB, LOL,
ROFL, TTYL, 143, A/S/L????, LMAO, IDK, IDC, LYLAS, LYLAB,
OMG, WTF, SRY, L8R.
Its
many abbreviations have carried on through the years as
generations old and new turn to texting as a main form
of communication.
"We
know there are so many loyal fans who have used AIM for
decades; and we loved working and building the first
chat app of its kind since 1997," AOL remembered
the service in a post shared announcing its soon-to-be
passing.
"Our
focus will always be on providing the kind of innovative
experiences consumers want. We’re more excited than
ever to focus on building the next generation of iconic
brands and life-changing products," a statement
from the company continued.
The
AIM platform was home to countless song lyric away
messages and creative screen name personas before things
turned professional and social media users more
regularly began using their real names for their
accounts.
AIM
provided users the opportunity to be creative in
describing themselves to the world. For example, girls
embraced the "Lil" moniker while many boys
declared their fandom for a favorite sports team.
The
news comes as AOL was acquired by Verizon in June 2015
for $4.4 billion. The new venture will be dubbed
"Oath." On Friday, a marketing agency created
a website so that AIM fans could keep their screen names
alive forever.
After
its 20 year run, AIM finally signed off Dec. 15 after a
long battle with competing messaging services. It leaves
behind Slack, Facebook, Twitter, texting, SMS, MMS,
Gchat and many other forms of communication including
sometimes possibly face-to-face.